The Oswego State wrestling team lost an exhilarating 18-14 match against Cortland in Max Ziel Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Oswego and Cortland were separated by just one point heading into the final weight class of the day, which the Red Dragons secured in the first period of overtime. With the loss in its final dual of 2017-18, the Lakers own a 5-6 mark overall while Cortland goes to 11-6.
Oswego opened the day in fantastic fashion as Hunter Howland, Evan Corso and Rocco Russo secured victories in three of the first four classes. The 125-pound Howland trailed 1-0 in the final period but was able to record an escape and takedown before adding a point for riding time for a 4-1 decision. Corso followed that at 133 with a 16-7 major decision. Looking spry, the sophomore recorded five takedowns and a four-point nearfall to dominate his Red Dragon counterpart. After a close 4-2 loss in the 141-pound bout, Rocco Russo earned four team points with a 9-1 major decision at 149. Russo allowed the only point on an escape so he could record another takedown to earn the major and an extra point for the Lakers.
Cortland responded with four-straight victories, opening with a close 4-3 decision over Joey Bush, with the only difference being two tough stalling warning points in favor of the Red Dragons. At 165, Alex Herringshaw faced Zach Zupan in a battle of the country's No. 8 and 9 wrestlers at that weight, respectively. In a back-and-forth affair, Zupan held a late 6-5 lead and recorded a takedown at the final buzzer for an 8-5 decision. The Red Dragons went on to decision wins at 174 and 184 to hold a 15-11 advantage on the scoreboard with two weight classes remaining.
Trevor Hoffmier bumped up a class to fight at 197 and controlled the entirety of the match. In what wound up a 10-3 decision, the junior was flirting with a pin early in the first that was recorded as a four-point nearfall much to the chagrin of the Laker faithful.
At 15-14 heading into the heavyweight class, Oswego's Kade Andrews and Cortland's Zach Gifford had fans on the edge of their seats as regulation could not determine a winner. In the overtime's first period, both wrestlers were locked in a bear hug near out-of-bounds when Gifford was able to shift his weight on top of Andrews for a sudden victory takedown.
The Lakers will now have a week off as they prepare for the NCAA Mideast Regionals, which will be hosted at Ithaca College at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.
CORTLAND 18, OSWEGO 14:
125: Hunter Howland (OSWEGO) over Josh Antoine (CORTLAND) (Dec 4-1)
133: Evan Corso (OSWEGO) over Mat Bradice (CORTLAND) (MD 16-7)
141: Matt Maquet (CORTLAND) over Justin DeLucia (OSWEGO) (Dec 4-2)
149: Rocco Russo (OSWEGO) over Matt Caputo (CORTLAND) (MD 9-1)
157: Greg Chery (CORTLAND) over Joey Bush (OSWEGO) (Dec 4-3)
165: Zach Zupan (CORTLAND) over Alex Herringshaw (OSWEGO) (Dec 8-5)
174: Adrian Berry (CORTLAND) over Troy Seymour (OSWEGO) (Dec 4-2)
184: Deuly Espinal (CORTLAND) over Jeff Lombardi (OSWEGO) (Dec 11-4)
197: Trevor Hoffmier (OSWEGO) over Chris Halleran (CORTLAND) (Dec 10-3)
285: Zach Gifford (CORTLAND) over Kade Andrews (OSWEGO) (SV-1 3-1)
Exhibition 165: Isaac Mathews (OSWEGO) over Matt Davis (CORTLAND) (Dec 8-5)
Exhibition 174: Michael Southwick (OSWEGO) over Travis Edwards (CORTLAND) (Dec 4-2)
