Pitt
Bloomsburg
Pittsburgh Wrestlers defeat Bloomsburg in EWL Action
12/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 8, 2000
Pittsburgh - The University of Pittsburgh wrestling team, ranked 23rd in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll, defeated Bloomsburg, 21-14, Friday night at Fitzgerald Field House in the teams' first Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) dual meet of the season.
Pittsburgh (1-1, 1-0 EWL) was without its top two wrestlers, Rob Loper and Zach Doll. Loper (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) and Doll (Quakerstown, Pa./The Hill School) were both injured at last weekend's Las Vegas Invitational.
The Panthers opened the contest by winning each of the first three matches. Junior Dan Stine (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) put Pittsburgh up 3-0 after edging out Kris Smith, 3-2, at 184 pounds. David Sandberg (Spokane, Wash./North Central) was tested early, put came back to defeat Chad Eckert, 11-7. Eckert, who normally competes at 184 pounds, was forced to face Sandberg in the 197 division as Bloomsburg was without one of its top wrestlers, Todd Hockenbroch. Freshman Jacob Lininger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) recorded his first dual-match win, shutting out Pat Spirellli, 6-0, to give Pittsburgh a 9-0 lead overall.
Bloomsburg (0-1, 0-1 EWL) got on the scoreboard at the 125-pound weight class as Brock Hite used the ride out point to claim a 3-2 decision over Shawn Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity). Pittsburgh immediately regained control as freshman Joe Crecca (Roselle Park, N.J./Blair Academy) claimed his first dual match win, defeating Russell Witt, 7-2. Crecca was able to see action at 133 pounds to due Loper's injury. Following intermission, 10th-ranked Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) won at 141 pounds in what proved to be the deciding match with a fall over Gary Rute at the 2:48 mark.
Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) was the only Panther to claim victory in the final four matches with a 2-0 decision against Hunter Guenot at 165 pounds. Fronhofer is ranked 12th in the InterMat poll and 16th in the Amateur Wrestling News poll, while Guenot is 12th in AWN and 16th in InterMat.
"Our guys wrestled hard," said Head Coach Rande Stottlemyer. "We were without two of our better wrestlers so I was concerned coming in because Bloomsburg has a fine team. I think the difference was we out-hustled them. I was also proud of the way Joe (Crecca) stepped up in Rob's (Loper) absence. I'm not easily impressed but we performed well tonight."
