No. 11 Wrestlers Fall Short at West Liberty in Dual Meet Opener
     11/16/12... (Full Results) After battling back to take a 16-15 lead going into the heavyweight bout, Head Coach Pat Pecora's young and relatively inexperienced 11th-ranked Mountain Cat wrestling squad needed a win to secure a victory in the 2012-13 dual meet opener at West Liberty (WV) University.  However, the Hilltoppers got a 3-2 decision by Mike Carpenter over true freshman Josh Duplin (Johnstown, Pa.) to deal Pitt-Johnstown a tough, 18-16 loss on Friday.
     Red-shirt freshman Evan Link (Cresson, Pa.) got the Mountain Cats started with a fall at 5:00 over Preston at 125 lbs., before West Liberty's Cole Nace earned an 8-4 decision over freshman Ben Rager (Ebensburg, Pa.) in the 133-lb bout.
     At 141 lbs., Dave Cawley (Pittsburgh, Pa.) increased the Mountain Cat advantage to 10-3 with an 8-0 major decision over Johnny McComas.
     The Hilltoppers battled back to take the lead 15-10 with four straight wins by decision.  After a tight, 3-2, win by Nick Wycoff over Jack Bachman (Greensburg, Pa.) at 149 lbs., Art Hobley scored a 4-2 decision over Joel Paolo (Weirton, WV) to make it 10-9.  West Liberty's Mike Emery then defeated Chad Miller (Johnstown, Pa.), 2-1, at 165 lbs., and seventh-ranked Matt Littleton scored a 7-5 decision over red-shirt freshman Brian Gibbons (Buffalo Mills, Pa.) at 174 lbs. to extend the West Liberty lead to 15-10.
     Pitt-Johnstown countered with two straight wins of their own to regain the lead, setting up the finale at heavyweight.  All-American Travis McKillop (Lower Burrell, Pa.) dealt Derrick Williams a 5-0 loss at 184 lbs., and red-shirt freshman Sean O'Conmnell (Farmington, CT) won 5-1 over Danny Doyle at 197 lbs. to give the lead back to the Mountain Cats at 16-15.
     It all came down to Duplin against Carpenter.  A win and Pitt-Johnstown would walk off with the victory.  It just wasn't to be, as Carpenter held off Duplin, 3-2, to give the Hilltoppers an 18-16 victory.
     The Mountain Cats travel to No 18 Kutztown University on Wednesday and to No. 6 University of Findlay (OH) on December 1, before making their 2012-13 home debut on Tuesday, December 4 against No. 20 East Stroudsburg University at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.