The wrestling team won a tight match and lost another close one this weekend on the road.
The team defeated Gardner-Webb College on Friday night 22-18, but fell to the University of North Carolina-Greensboro 20-17 Saturday evening.
Senior Scott Frinzi won his Friday night match at 150-lbs by a large margin when his opponent Brian Blow of Gardner-Webb was penalized.
"[Frinzi] was winning 13-0 and [Blow] was not wrestling, so he was penalized," head coach Bill Harvey said.
Blow was penalized twice more, and Frinzi won the match.
Junior Dan Covatta was upset by Chris Austin of Gardner-Webb, but the team was able to win five of its other nine matches, giving the Blue Devils the edge.
Harvey said that Saturday night's loss against UNC-G was heartbreaking. Duke won four of its 10 matches.
"It was a real close match," Harvey said. "We had the chances, but it just didn't happen," he said.
Both Covatta and Frinzi won their matches in the 142-lb. and 150-lb. weight classes, respectively, on termination calls.
Freshman Matt Mapes and Joe Stanton of UNC-G had an especially close match in the 158-lb. weight class. Stanton had a takedown in the first period, but escaped in the second and third periods.
"We just needed one more break," Harvey said. "Not getting the takedowns at the end was pretty crucial."
A crucial pin by 177-lb. sophomore Jesse Raia in 16 seconds against Mike Gialianella of UNC-G put the team on top with two matches left to wrestle.
Duke was poised to win the match after sophomore Dion Santo won his match by one point in the 190-lb. weight class. But Joe Stark of UNC-G defeated sophomore Brian Gerhold 17 to 1 in the heavyweight match, putting the Spartans on top 20 to 17.
"We wrestled hard this weekend," Harvey said. "Dion [Santo] had crucial pins against UNC-G, and that helped us. Frinzi won both of his matches, and I'm real proud of him.
"We're a little disappointed that we didn't win the second one. We had a good opportunity, and we would have had a .500 season like we were aiming for."
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