Feb. 16, 2007
Stanford, Calif. - The Cardinal wrestling team fell 23-20 to Arizona State in its final dual of the regular season tonight at the Ford Center. Luke Feist and Phillip Doerner registered strong performances for Stanford, but the Sun Devils won five of seven bouts to earn the win. Stanford finishes the season with an 8-8 record and a 5-4 mark in the Pac-10.
The match started at 174 pounds, and Feist quickly fired up the Cardinal with a decisive win. The sophomore avenged a Dec. 20 loss to Rick Renzi, picking up nine near fall points in the first period to jump out to a 12-2 lead. Feist finished off the match in the second period, winning by technical fall, 18-2.
At 184 pounds, freshman Zack Giesen fell for the first time in 14 matches, dropping a major decision to the Pac-10's top-ranked Greg Gifford. The Cardinal fell behind, 10-5, on a forfeit at 197 pounds.
Phillip Doerner followed with a hard-fought decision over Thor Moen at heavyweight, scoring a decisive takedown in the third period to seal the 5-2 win.
A Sun Devil forfeit at 125 pounds put the Cardinal back in the lead, 14-10, but Arizona State's Shawn Jones picked up a major decision over Stanford's Cameron Teitelman at 133 pounds to tie the team score.
The Sun Devils took back the lead with a decision at 141 pounds, 17-14, but the Cardinal took over again with a default win at 149 pounds, 20-17. No. 15 Josh Zupancic battled No. 4 Brian Stith to the final seconds, but a late takedown gave Stith the 3-1 decision.
Scott Loescher took the mat with the 12th-ranked wrestler in the nation, Patrick Pitsch, to break the 20-20 tie, but Pitsch came out on top, 6-0.
Stanford now heads to Bakersfield, Calif. for the Pac-10 Championships, where ten Cardinal wrestlers will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Detroit. Action begins Saturday, Feb. 24 and will continue through Sunday, Feb. 25 at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield.
Arizona State 23, Stanford 20
125- No. 3 Tanner Gardner (S) by forfeit
133- Shawn Jones (A) maj. dec. Cameron Teitelman (S), 14-5
141- Robert Galvan (A) dec. Matt Kim (S), 15-9
149- Tyler Parker (S) by forfeit
157- No. 4 Brian Stith (A) dec. No. 15 Josh Zupancic (S), 3-1
165- No. 12 Patrick Pitsch (A) dec. Scott Loescher (S), 6-0
174- Luke Feist (S) tech. fall Rick Renzi (A), 18-2
184- Greg Gifford (A) maj. dec. Zack Giesen (S), 10-2
197- Jason Trulson (A) by forfeit
HWT- Phillip Doerner (S) dec. Thor Moen (A), 5-2
*started at 174 pounds