Heavyweight wrestler Adam LoPiccolo avenged an earlier loss and won his match by pinning his ranked opponent as AU won all but one of its matches to beat Sacred Heart Sunday, 37-6
The sophomore, who was ranked 13th in his class by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, faced off against Payam Zarrinpour, who was ranked 11th among heavyweights. Zarrinpour defeated LoPiccolo fewer than four weeks ago in a 4-1 decision, but with the Eagles at home for the first time this season, it was LoPiccolo who would have the edge.
The two wrestlers squared off in the last match of the meet. Zarrinpour came out early with a takedown to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. But it was during the middle of the second period that LoPiccolo dramatically threw Zarrinpour to the mat and pinned him as AU's first home crowd of the season roared after the referee declared LoPiccolo the winner by fall.
"It feels good to avenge the earlier loss," LoPiccolo said. "I trained real hard and I wanted to wrestle my type of game."
LoPiccolo said he wasn't bothered by the huge height and weight advantage of his opponent.
"He nearly tips the scale at the max of 285 pounds and I weigh about 225, but I knew if I wrestled my game, I would be able win," he said.
The win for LoPiccolo raised his record to 17-6.
Senior Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, ranked fourth in his 165-pound class, remained undefeated on the season, winning his match against Anthony Hayes (1-5) by major decision, 19-5. Abdurakhmanov is now 16-0. Josh Glenn, the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the 184-pound class, won his ninth match in a row by taking down Andrew Silber (10-10) in an 8-2 decision.
Glenn is now 22-1 on the year and leads the Eagles in wins by pin with 15.
In the 149-pound bout, the Eagles' Tom Kniezewski (16-6) continuously took down his opponent and won the match by major decision, 21-5. The match fell into a routine where Kniezewski turned two-point takedowns while his opponent gained one point by escape. But the senior's takedowns helped him to a comfortable victory.
Other winners for AU included Matt Morkel (9-4), who squeezed off a 6-0 decision in the 125-pound match. The match was scoreless for the first two periods until Morkel to score first with an escape and then a takedown.
In another close match, 197-pound Tyler Flatt won, 3-1, for just his third victory of the year.
Jordan Lipp won the 133-pound match with an 11-7 decision.
Christopher Stout and Dwayne Hash-Barberis also dominated their matches with double-digit decisions.
