Erie, Pa—The Mercyhurst Wrestling team fought hard, but fell to Lake Erie by a score of 19-15 on Friday night in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. 
 
The two squads split the bouts evenly at five apiece, but two bonus points victories would give the Storm the edge over the Lakers in the end.
 
Senior Eric Bartos earned the first victory of the night for the Lakers in an 8-1 decision at 133. A take down and a two point near fall in the first period set up Bartos for success and he never looked backed. 
 
No. 3 Dillon Walker picked up a huge win over No. 4 James Penfold at 174. Walker took a quick 4-2 lead in the first with each grappler only adding on one more point as Walker took the 5-3 decision. 
 
Mike Zacur also collected three points for the Lakers at 149 as he edged out his opponent in a 3-2 decision. 
 
At 197, No. 10 Luke McGonigal earned a 11-4 decision. In the first period, McGonigal was able to pin Lake Erie's Paul Scaramuzzino before a video review overturned the call as time had expired giving McGonigal just the two points for the takedown. The Frenchville, Pa. native was unable to pin his opponent again to secure the bonus point win but fought to the end for the three team points. 
 
At heavyweight, Hunter Harnish shut out his opponent in a 7-0 decision. However, his three points weren't enough to put the Lakers on top as the fell to the Storm 19-15. 
 
Up Next
 
The Mercyhurst grapplers will hit the road to close out 2022 at the Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis.