Wrestlers go 2-1 at home against Oneonta, WNEU & Wesleyan

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Although the match was delayed by snowstorm Nemo, Williams hosted Oneonta, WNEU, and Wesleyan this weekend. A long day consisting of 6 total matches between the teams, Wesleyan ultimately came out on top, winning all three of their matches.

The Ephs cashed in the second most wins of the day, however, going 2-1. "I'm really proud of the way our guys wrestled today," head coach Scott Honecker declared. "We won virtually every close match today, and our guys and the fans were behind every guy out there on the mat cheering them on to victory. "

"We started out strong with a 41-7 victory against WNEU and we really were up for the Oneonta match," he continued.

In December, the Ephs lost to Oneonta by 11 points. "We felt like it was a decision that we could turn around so the guys went out there and wrestled absolutely on fire and we knocked them off 28-13," Honecker explained.

In the last match of the day, the Williams wrestlers fell to Wesleyan. Honecker noted that "they are one of the top teams in the country and we are working really hard to get to their level—and it's coming."

"Antista looked strong as always, going 2-0 on the day," the coach remarked. Ces Antista wrestled at 141, later handing the class over to Carson Brooks who went 0-1.

Daniel Seidita took down his WNEU opponent with a 2:30 pin, going 2-1 on the day at 125.

Dan Evangelakos had a great performance today, according to Honecker. "Dan did a fantastic job against nationally ranked Benjamin Mikac," said Honecker. Although he didn't end up winning the match, Evangelakos "didn't give up bonus, and that's a nationally ranked kid that he was in a position to win the match with a take down with 30 seconds left, so that's something we were really proud of." Evangelakos went 0-3 on the day.

Jorge Lopez had another good day at 149, going 2-1 on the day and winning with 6:21 pin in his first match.

Tim Garripoli went 2-1 holding down the 157 weight class. Garripoli faced off against Daniel Graff, "a really tough kid out of Oneonta," according to Honecker. "Tim ended up beating him 8-7, which secures his second win of the season over Graff for him, so that'll be really important come seeding time" Honecker predicted.

Kyle Gaffney and Scott Sanderson shared the 165 spot, going 1-1 and 0-1 on the day respectively. Gaffney won by a major decision against his WNEU adversary and was one of the few Ephs to win his match against Wesleyan.

John Berry (174) and Anthony Brooks (184) each went 2-1 on the day, with Brooks pinning his Oneonta opponent. 

Dan Kurnick went 1-2 at 197, while Adam Datema and Tom Foote split time as heavyweights going 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. Foote cleaned up the WNEU and Oneonta contenders and then Datema cleaned up the challenger from Wesleyan.

''I was just really happy with everyone's effort up and down the lineup," Honecker concluded. Next week the wrestlers take on Springfield, "They're the number one ranked team in the conference, but we're going to give them everything we've got."

Results:

Williams vs. WNEU

Wesleyan vs. Williams

WNEU vs. Oneonta

WNEU vs. Wesleyan

Wesleyan vs. Oneonta