Cavaliers Take Down Penn 25-11

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team (3-1) won seven weight classes on the way to a 25-11 victory over Penn (0-2) on Friday night (Dec. 6) at Memorial Gym.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cavaliers picked up wins in seven weight classes, including three shutouts and three bonus-point victories, on the way to the win over the Quakers.

Nick Hamilton got things started at 165 pounds with a decision over Andy Troczynski before Penn would respond with a victory at 174 pounds. Virginia then rattled off three straight wins, beginning with back-to-back shutouts from Justin Phillips (184) with a 7-0 decision over Nate Taylor and a 9-0 major decision from Max Shulaw (197) over Jackson Zimmerman. Gabe Christenson closed out the stretch with a tech fall of John Pardo at heavyweight.

Penn responded with a tech fall at 125 as the lineup flipped back to the top, but Gable Porter posted Virginia’s third shutout of the night to push the Hoos back out on top by 10 in the overall score. The Quakers got another win at 141 pounds, but it was the last individual win of the night for Penn.

The Gioffre brothers provided the fireworks down the stretch with Jack Gioffre taking down No. 13 Cross Wasilewski with a 4-3 decision in a chippy match at 149 pounds. Michael Gioffre put an exclamation point on the night, closing the evening with an 11-2 major decision over Paul Ognissanti.

NOTES ON THE DUAL

• With the win, Virginia moved to 2-5 all-time against the Quakers and the Cavaliers are now 2-2 against Penn under head coach Steve Garland.
• Gabe Christenson moved to 3-0 on the year and in dual action with his first tech fall as a Cavalier.
• Jack Gioffre’s win over No. 13 Cross Wasliewski is the highest ranked wrestler defeated by Gioffre to this point in his career.
• Justin Phillips saw his first dual action of the season after bumping up to 184 pounds for the dual.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“We’re pretty excited. That was a really good team. We’ve been watching film, and we’ve watched all of their guys, and they are good throughout the lineup. To come out and do what we did, to win the matches we won and pull off some of the upsets on paper (was outstanding). We got back out on the road, though, so we have to get back on the horse tomorrow for a tough dual at VMI.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 7) with a dual at VMI (4-1). The dual is set to begin at 1 p.m.

VIRGINIA 25, PENN 11
165: No. 15 Nick Hamilton dec. Andy Troczynski (UP), 7-3 – UVA 3, PENN 0
174: No. 6 Nick Incontrera (UP) dec. Rocco Contino, 6-4 – UVA 3, PENN 3
184: Justin Phillips dec. Nate Taylor (UP), 7-0 – UVA 6, PENN 3
197: Max Shulaw major dec. Jackson Zimmerman, 9-0 – UVA 10, PENN 3
HWT: Gabe Christenson tech fall John Pardo (UP), 18-2 (6:12) – UVA 15, PENN 3
125: No. 18 Max Gallagher (UP) tech fall No. 28 Keyveon Roller,  23-8 (6:24) – UVA 15, PENN 8
133: No. 32 Gable Porter dec. Alex Almeyda (UP), 5-0 – UVA 18, PENN 8
141: Evan Mougalion (UP) dec. Kyren Butler, 9-6 – UVA 18, PENN 11
149: Jack Gioffre dec. No. 13 Cross Wasilewski (UP), 4-3 – UVA 21, PENN 11
157: Michael Gioffre major dec. Paul Ognissanti (UP), 11-2 – UVA 25, PENN 11