Wrestling drops home dual to Iowa State
The Arizona State University wrestling team dropped its second consecutive home dual, Dec. 3, to Iowa State, 25-14, at Wells Fargo Arena.
Redshirt freshmen Shane McGough and Tommy Burriel both logged bonus-point wins but it wasn’t enough as the Cyclones (1-8, 0-3 Big 12) won their eighth-consecutive dual against the Sun Devils (5-4, 1-0 Pac-12). ASU has not been able to topple Iowa State since 2004 as the Cyclones improved to 25-6 in the all-time series and the team earned its first dual victory of the year.
Twelfth-ranked Ryak Finch got things started at 125 pounds for the Cyclones with a major decision over ASU’s redshirt freshman Dalton Miller, 11-3, to put ISU up 4-0. McGough had the answer at 133 pounds as he dominated Shayden Terukina from start to finish for a 15-4 major decision of his own to tie the match at four.
Things went a bit sour at that point for Arizona State as redshirt freshman Nathan Hoffer found himself leading the match, 5-3, at 141 pounds before Luke Goettl was able to get position and pin Hoffer, dropping the Sun Devils behind by six through three matches.
Redshirt freshman Kyle McIntosh was able to respond with his second career dual victory at 149 pounds, getting a takedown at the buzzer to defeat Lucas Swalla and bring ASU back within three.
The Cyclones proceeded to overpower Arizona State from there, however, winning the next four bouts at 157, 165, 174 and 184. Notable about the spree, however, was that no Sun Devil wrestling as those weights was the original starter this season as injuries and inconsistency have reared their heads.
Effectively eliminated after being down 25-7 with just two matches left, the Sun Devils showed their fight as Burriel used a late takedown in the 197 bout to earn the major decision over Richard Shafer, 11-3, before ASU’s All-American heavyweight Levi Cooper won the match finale, 4-1, against Matthew Gibson for his 18th win of the season.
ASU will have the next couple days to recover before a big home dual against #16 Oregon State on Sunday afternoon as the two teams battle for Pac-12 bragging rights. Events will begin at 2 p.m. MST and a live webcast of the event will be available at www.foxsportsarizona.com. For continued coverage of Sun Devil wrestling, be sure to check out TheSunDevils.com.