NCSU Student Media
Head coach Pat Popolizio watches as freshman Tyler Hunt is held against the mat against Duke Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Hunt wrestled in the 141 weight class in the Wolfpack's 22-9 loss to the Blue Devils at Reynolds Coliseum. Photo by Ryan Parry.
The N.C. State wrestling team dropped its last home meet of the season against Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke Wednesday evening.
After falling behind early by losing its first four individual matches, the Wolfpack was down but not out as it put up a fight late in the meet to build some momentum going into the ACC Championships.
The Pack’s first win in the meet came from freshman Mike Kosoy over Duke junior Brian Self.
Kosoy started off quick, getting a takedown during the first period that put N.C. State up 2-1 after a one point escape by Duke. Kosoy escaped for one more point in the second period, Duke escaped a hold and then Kosoy finished off his opponent with the takedown to win his match 5-3.
At the intermission, Duke held a 13-2 two advantage over State following a single point deduction from each side for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Junior Joe DeAngelo came out of the intermission for the Pack and grabbed a 12-3 major decision over sophomore Tanner Hough at 125.
The two teams then exchanged shutout decisions. The first featured Duke’s No. 27 redshirt sophomore Brandon Gambucci taking a 5-0 victory over State freshman Sam Speno. NCSU freshman Tyler Hunt then pulled the Pack back within seven points by pulling out a 6-0 decision at 141.
Following the big wins from Hunt and DeAngelo, sophomore Thomas Gantt and junior Matt Nereim each fought valiantly in an attempt to pull the Wolfpack back into the meet, but they came up short. Gantt dropped his match by an 8-4 count to Duke redshirt freshman Marcus Cain and Nereim came up just shy of the victory, losing 11-10 to redshirt sophomore Immanuel Kerr-Brown.
“It was just an overall disappointing performance,” head coach Pat Popolizio said. “It was just a plain lack of effort, an unwillingness to keep pushing forward and to not finish our matches.”
With the ACC Championships just a few weeks away, the team is looking to improve in order to make a statement.
“This is a young team,” Popolizio said. “Nobody on it has ever faced adversity like this before. It doesn’t help that there aren’t any seniors to help lift up some of the young spirits to work hard for the up and coming ACC tournament.”
As Popolizio stated, the Wolfpack is an extremely young team. With ten true freshmen, three red-shirt freshmen and five sophomores, this team has plenty of time to develop and grow as these next three to four years progress.
“Certain individuals are certainly heading in the right direction,” Popolizio said. “The attitude will be different day to day as this new staff gets to know the team better…This has been a unique year, not just for the wrestlers, but for myself and the staff as well. I look forward to getting to know the team more as we keep looking to progress and improve together.”
With the loss, the Pack falls 5-6 (0-5 ACC) on the season and will return to action March 9 at the 2013 ACC Championships in College Park, Md.