Bulldogs Fall To VMI In Dual Match Opener
December 07, 2007 | Wrestling
LEXINGTON, Va. – Despite winning five of the 10 matches on the evening, the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs fell to the VMI Keydets in front of 903 fans Friday evening on the campus of VMI.
The Bulldogs fall to 0-1 on the year while the Keydets improve to 3-1.
The dual match began in the 141 lb. division. Chas Franz stepped onto the mat for the Bulldogs to grapple against Tyler Anthony. Franz looked strong for the most part, but Anthony was able to garner a 4-2 victory, giving the home team an early 3-0 lead.
At 149, senior Joshua Lowe downed Vince Cole by a 4-1 decision, evening the match at 3-3.
Rookie Austin Reece was the next on the mat for GWU, and he took on David Metzler in the 157 lb. class. Reece recorded two takedowns and nearly scored on a cradle as time expired in the match, but was unable to pull it off. Reece fell by a 10-6 score, which gave the Keydets a 6-3 margin.
Brendan Couture, grappling at 165, fell by a 9-2 count to Tommy Cunningham. The loss put VMI up six at 9-3.
Chad Davis picked up his 11th win of the season in the 174 lb. division by posting a win by the slimmest of margins over Dustin McCabe. Davis knocked off McCabe 1-0, pulling the Bulldogs within three at 9-6.
Matthias Piasecki exacted revenge on Curtis Moore at 184. A week ago, Moore knocked off Piasecki in the Davidson Open by a 4-0 score. This time around, Piasecki did what he was taught by head coach Scott Shipman and his staff, and picked up a 10-7 victory to even the overall score at nine apiece.
Redshirt-sophomore Dustin Porter, wrestling at 197, earned his ninth win of the season by downing Ronnie Ellsworth 5-1, giving GWU its first and only lead of the night at 12-9.
Evan Rhodes was bumped up to the heavyweight division. Grappling at 285, Rhodes was unable to get on track against Josh Wine. Wine pinned him in 4:04, giving VMI a 15-12 lead. The Keydets would not relinquish it. With the staggered start, next o compete was Tommy Bennett in the 125 lb. class. Bennett fell to Jeremy Adams 6:49 into the match. The pin gave the Keydets a 21-12 lead.
In the last match of the evening, redshirt-sophomore Rob Tate earned his 15th victory of the season. Tate, now 15-1, shut out Ryan Goodsell by a 10-0 score and making the final score 21-16.
"We weren't as aggressive as we should have been in the matches we lost," Shipman said. "We competed in an exciting venue tonight.
"After the match, we had a long talk afterwards. We all know what we have to work on and the kids are going to continue to work hard and improve so that we make a run at the Southern Scuffle."
The Bulldogs return to the mats Dec. 29-30 at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C.
141- Tyler Anthony (VMI) dec. Chas Franz (GWU) 4-2, VMI 3-0
149- Josh Lowe (GWU) dec. Vince Cole (VMI) 4-1, Tied 3-3
157- David Metzler (VMI) dec. Austin Reece (GWU) 10-6, VMI 6-3
165- Tommy Cunningham (VMI) dec. Brendan Couture (GWU) 9-2, VMI 9-3
174- Chad Davis (GWU) dec. Dustin McCabe (VMI) 1-0, VMI 9-6
184- Matthias Piasecki (GWU) dec. Curtis Moore (VMI) 10-7, Tied 9-9
197- Dustin Porter (GWU) Ronnie Ellsworth (VMI) 5-1, GWU 12-9
285- Josh Wine (VMI) pins Evan Rhodes (GWU) 4:04, VMI 15-12
125- Jeremy Adams (VMI) pins Tommy Bennett (GWU) 6:49, VMI 21-12
133- Rob Tate (GWU) maj. dec. Ryan Goodsell (VMI) 10-0, VMI 21-16
Attendance- 903
