Pitt Wrestling
Pitt Wrestling Falls to No. 24 Arizona State on Criteria, 21-20
PITTSBURGH — No. 15 Pitt Wrestling appeared to have a victory in their dual with No. 24 Arizona State Sunday afternoon, but a late injury led to a loss on criteria.
The Panthers (7-5) lose their second straight dual and back-to-back home duals to start 2024 with the defeat to the Sun Devils (3-4). The loss to the Sun Devils also gives them a 4-2 lead over the Panthers in the all-time series and a 3-1 lead in Pittsburgh.
Pitt No. 31 redshirt senior Colton Camacho (7-7) faced a tough matchup against Arizona State No. 11 redshirt junior Richard Figueroa (6-2) at 125 pounds. He kept it close through the first two periods, down just 1-0, but suffered four back points and lost a 6-1 decision to Figueroa.
Panthers No. 20 redshirt first-year Vinnie Santaniello (12-9) would put on a great defensive performance against Sun Devils redshirt junior Tristan Mascarenas (1-4), winning a 5-0 decision at 133 pounds, to tie the dual at 3-3.
No. 27 redshirt senior Cole Matthews (9-9) got another important victory for himself and for Pitt wrestling, using two takedowns to win a 10-2 major decision after riding time against Arizona State redshirt junior Cody Foote at 141 pounds.
Panthers redshirt first-years in Finn Solomon (13-5) and Jared Keslar (12-11) then faced off against two great wrestlers for the Sun Devils in No. 4 redshirt junior Kyle Parco (13-2) at 149 pounds and No. 5 redshirt senior Jacori Teemer at 157 pounds (13-3), respectively.
Solomon got himself a lot of chances to score against Parco, but failed to complete them. Parco would also take advantage against his lack of stamina, winning a 9-2 decision after riding time.
Keslar went down 13-3 early in the second period, but he got a takedown to cut it to seven heading into the third period. Teemer then escaped, got a takedown and then four near fall points to win a 21-6 technical fall, putting the Sun Devils up 11-7 midway through the dual.
The biggest upset of the night came at 165 pounds, when Arizona State redshirt senior Chance McLane got a late takedown to win a 4-1 decision over Pitt redshirt senior Holden Heller (7-4). Holden Heller didn’t wrestle like he normally does, engaging in a defensive battle, and it hurt him in the end as he suffered his fourth straight loss after starting undefeated.
“He was looking for almost like the perfect set up and sometimes you just have to pull the trigger and create something,” Pitt head coach Keith Gavin said on Holden Heller’s loss. “You don’t need to know exactly how you’re going to score. You just need to start firing them off and you’ll find a way. So that was a little uncharacteristic of him.”
The Panthers, down 14-7, got some help from the back half of the lineup to get back in the dual. No. 15 redshirt sophomore Luca Augustine (10-2) dominated Sun Devils redshirt sophomore Cael Valencia (6-9) at 174 pounds, making four takedowns and winning a 14-2 major decision after riding time.
No. 12 redshirt senior Reece Heller (13-4) won a technical fall over Arizona State sophomore Shay Addison at 184 pounds to give Pitt wrestling the lead and then No. 13 redshirt first-year Mac Stout (14-3) won an 11-2 major decision against Arizona State sophomore Jacob Meissiner (2-8) at 197 pounds to put them up 20-14 heading into the final match.
The most anticipated bout of the day came at 285 pounds in Panthers No. 12 redshirt first-year Dayton Pitzer (8-4) against Sun Devils No. 5 redshirt junior Cohlton Schultz (3-1). The two wrestled at the 2022 Midlands Championships, where Pitzer stunned Schultz in a 4-0 decision to make the semifinals.
Both wrestlers competed well through the first period, with each having chances to score, but none completing any moves. Schultz would then make an escape and a takedown to earn a 4-1 lead and took a 7-2 lead with another takedown in the third period.
Pitzer suffered an injury on the second takedown. He would attempt to wrestle again, but hurt his shoulder and exhausted all of his injury time, forcing him to medically forfeit.
The NCAA scores the medical forfeit for Pitzer as a pin, six points, tying the dual at 20-20. The criteria used was on wins for each team, at five, and then how the wrestlers won, pins, technical falls, major decisions. With the pin, which is ranked as highest, Arizona State won the dual, 21-20.
Gavin said that Pitzer needed to get low on Schutlz’s ankle to take him down, but dislocated his shoulder on the finish.
“That was about the worst possible outcome you could ask for, when one of your better guys gets hurt like that,” Pitt head coach Keith Gavin said. “So obviously, that’s at the forefront of my mind right now, but some guys performed well and scored a lot of points, but we needed more from others.”
Pitt Wrestling will begin ACC duals with a test against No. 8 NC State, 7:00 p.m., Friday night at Fitzgerald Field House.
Yikes. Does that put Pitzner out until ACC tournament? You can’t win with that type of injury, plus it can be a problem for years.