ERIE, Pa.—The No. 18 Mercyhurst Wrestling team fell to No. 14 Gannon on Friday night at Highmark Events Center.
The match opened with the 125 where
William Smith fell in a close 3-2 decision. Following the freshman was senior
Eric Bartos who opened the scoring for the Lakers. Bartos picked up a 20-6 major decision improving to 18-2 on the season.
After gaining the 4-3 lead, Mercyhurst dropped the next four bouts falling behind the Golden Knights 21-4.
Jake Niffenegger took the 141 bout to overtime, but couldn't come out with the sudden victory win dropping an 8-6 decision.
Dillon Walker collected the next three points for the Lakers with a 3-2 decision over Cole Cacilio. Joey Petrella, the 11
th ranked wrestler at 174 according to The Open Mat rankings was listed as a probable, but did not wrestle as he has been struggling with injury most of the season.
Luke McGonigal and
Hunter Harnish closed out the match for the Lakers with each picking up three points. McGonigal won his bout in a sudden victory situation over fifth ranked Joel Leise.
Harnish took the heavyweight bout in a 7-4 decision making the final team score 24-13 in favor of Gannon.
The Lakers are back at home next Friday to take on Shippensburg at 7 p.m.
