Mountaineers put an end to Panthers winning streak

Youth against experience.

That’s how Pitt wrestling head coach Rande Stottlemyer described… Youth against experience.

That’s how Pitt wrestling head coach Rande Stottlemyer described the Panthers match against No. 6 West Virginia Friday night.

With Pitt starting five freshmen and two sophomores, the Mountaineers experience won out, as West Virginia stopped the Panthers’ seven-match winning streak with a 29-8 win.

The loss dropped Pitt to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in the Eastern Wrestling League, while West Virginia improved to 6-3 overall and 5-0 in conference matches.

“They’ve got a nice team, a lot of experience, a lot of talent,” Stottlemyer said about the Mountaineers. “We were hoping to get a little momentum starting out. I thought those guys fought hard.”

Freshman Jordan Siannai and senior Justin Giovinco gave the Panthers two highlights in an otherwise dismal defeat.

Siannai dominated the 125-pound match, jumping out to an 8-0 lead before winning with a technical fall over Greg White, 15-0. White was wrestling for West Virginia’s Seth Lisa, who did not wrestle because of an illness.

“I wish they had their starter in … [he’s] supposed to be pretty good,” Stottlemyer said. “Jordan is pretty tough and really hard to beat, but he has some areas he needs to work on, too.”

With the win, Siannai improves to 25-4 on the season and 10-0 in dual meets.

Giovinco gave Pitt its only other win of the match by defeating Billy Smith in the 149-pound match, 4-3, avenging two losses to Smith last season. Giovinco scored all of his points in the second period with a reversal and another takedown.

Facing the No. 1 wrestler in the nation at 174-pounds, Carl Fronhofer nearly pulled off the upset against Greg Jones. Fronhofer was awarded a stalling point to tie the match at three in the third period.

But Jones was able to pull together and score the crucial points with 11 seconds left to win, 5-3, leaving Fronhofer without a chance to comeback.

Francis Iorfido lost a dual match for the first time this season, falling to Tom McMath at 165-pounds. Iorfido, who is 14-7 on the year, entered the final period tied at two, but McMath scored three takedowns to secure the victory, 8-4.

“Iorfido fought like a dog,” Stottlemyer said. “He’s just a real young kid halfway through his freshman year.”

The Panthers suffered another setback when Mike Croyle injured his left arm during the 184-pound match against Ryan Wilman. Croyle landed awkwardly his the arm and continued to wrestle but was unable to overcome the injury, losing the major decision to Wilman, 9-0.

“[Croyle] was a champion out there, he fought like a dog just to save us the extra point,” Stottlemyer said. “That’s just the type of kid he is. He shows up to every match and works his tail off.”

Wrestling in place of Joshua Birt, Gregg Osbeck had a tough time against Adam Thompson in the 197-pound match, falling behind 6-2 in the first period. After a scoreless second period, Thompson took control of the match and defeated Osbeck, 14-5.

“We decided not to use Birt because he’s got a bad ankle,” Stottlemyer said. “Had we won one of the first two, we might have put him in there.”

Despite the lopsided defeat, Stottlemyer does not think this will be a major setback to the squad.

“It’s a long, hard season, especially with what’s happened the last couple of weeks,” he said, referring to the death of assistant coach David Sandberg. “Every time we go out, you see that ‘DS’ on the uniform and it kind of puts things in perspective.”