Feb. 21, 2009

Contact: Ryan Mulford

Morgantown, West Virginia - Two forfeits put the Vikings in an early hole that they were unable to recover from as they lost 41-0 to West Virginia, Friday (2/20). Cleveland State never gave up, dropping two matches by two points or less and a several others that were within three points in the closing seconds.

With the loss the Vikings fall to 4-13 overall, while the Mountaineers improve to 8-4-1 overall

With the Vikings trailing 38-0, senior heavyweight Rashard Goff squared off in a grudge match against Dustin Rogers.

After battling to a scoreless first period, Rogers was able to get the upper hand scoring three points in the second frame and took a 3-0 lead in to the final period.

Goff began the third period in the bottom position and wasted no time getting an escape narrowing Rogers lead to two (3-1). Rogers however, was able to secure riding time and escape with a 4-1 victory.

In 174-pound action, JT Miller lost a close 7-5 match against Lance Bryson.

Miller jumped out to a quick 3-2 lead after scoring an escape point and following that up with a takedown in the first period.

Entering the third period, Miller found himself only down by two (6-4). After starting the period in the bottom position, Miller fought hard and finally way able to score an escape point narrowing the score to one at 6-5. Bryson was able to control riding time to earn a slim two point decision over Miller (7-5).

The only point that Miller surrendered the final two periods was a lone escape point.

In 165-pound action, Rob Michaels was edged out 13-5 against Donnie Jones.

After falling behind early in the contest, Michaels was able to battle back scoring four separate points from escapes to cut Jones' lead in half (8-4).

Early on in the second period, Michaels scored the first takedown of the evening for the Vikings narrowing the gap to two (8-6).

Jones was able to add two points to his lead, however was able to keep Michaels down and after the escape the score was 10-7 with just over 40 seconds left. After another Jones takedown, he was able to slide by Michaels by a score of 13-7.

In other action at 157 pounds Corey Carlo gave a gritty performance in a hard fought loss to Ryan Goodman.

Goodman was able to score the first points of the contest with a takedown, but was unable to keep Carlo down for long as the Viking freshman quickly escaped narrowing the score to one.

Entering the third period, Carlo found himself trailing 5-1. Starting with bottom position, Carlo was able to score an escape point to narrow the lead to three, however that was the close as he would get as Goodman squeezed out a slim 8-2 win.

The Vikings will have a week off before they finish the season March 6 at the EWL tournament. This year the tournament will take place at Lock Haven University and is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

125: Kyle Turnbull (WVU) wins by forfeit; 6-0 WVU
133: Grant Lowther (WVU) 19-6 Mdec. Josh Palivoda (CSU); 10-0 WVU
141: Colin Johnston (WVU) 10-1 Mdec. Lawrence Cavello (CSU); 14-0 WVU
149: No. 20 David Jauregui (WVU) 7-1 Dec. Antonio Nicholson (CSU); 17-0 WVU
157: Ryan Goodman (WVU) 8-2 Dec. Corey Carlo (CSU); 20-0 WVU
165: Donnie Jones (WVU) 12-8 Dec. Rob Michaels (CSU); 23-0 WVU
174: No. 11 Kurt Brenner (WVU) Fall 4:39 Nate Kmetz (CSU); 29-0 WVU
184: Lance Bryson (WVU) 7-5 Dec. JT Miller (CSU); 32-0 WVU
197: Matt Ryan (WVU) wins by forfeit; 38-0 WVU
HWT: No. 11 Dustin Rogers (WVU) 4-1 Dec. No. 20 Rashard Goff (CSU); 41-0 WVU