Blue Devils Fall to No. 23 Pittsburgh in Regular Season Finale

Friday, February 18

Durham, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Fall to No. 23 Pittsburgh in Regular Season Finale

2/18/2022 10:16:00 PM | Wrestling

Photo Gallery

DURHAM – The Duke wrestling program (7-10, 0-5 ACC) dropped its ACC dual match finale, falling to No. 23 Pittsburgh (8-6, 2-3), 29-12, on senior night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils honored the collegiate careers of Josh Finesilver, Matt Finesilver, Ben Frye, Ty Mills, Ty Naquin and Kaden Russell in a pre-match ceremony.

The Panthers were able to generate the early lead behind two of their top-10 ranked wrestlers, going up 14-0. However, the Blue Devils would respond when Josh Finesilver delivered a win on his senior night, blitzing Dan Mancini with a 12-3 major decision to cut the deficit to 14-4.

Junior Wade Unger found himself in a grueling battle, nearly defeating No. 19 Elijah Cleary in what ended in a 6-4 decision, but his teammates would pick him up with a couple of late wins.

The first would come from another graduating senior, Matt Finesilver, who was calm and collected throughout his match, winning 15-0 by technical fall to get Duke to nine points. After a win by Pittsburgh, junior Jonah Niesenbaum capped off the night with a win, picking up his second ACC victory of the season in a 3-2 decision over Jake Slinger.

The Blue Devils will return to action on Mar. 6, traveling to Charlottesville, Va., for the 2022 ACC Championships. The event will see split coverage on ACCNX and ACC Network.

No. 23 Pittsburgh 29, Duke 12
125: No. 30 Gage Curry (Pittsburgh) def. Logan Agin (Duke) – MD, 8-0
133: No. 10 Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) def. Drake Doolittle (Duke) – Fall (4:29)
141: No. 6 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) def. Patrick Rowland (Duke) – MD, 17-4
149: No. 14 Josh Finesilver (Duke) def. Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) – MD, 12-3
157: No. 19 Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) def. Wade Unger (Duke) – Dec., 6-4
165: No. 16 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) def. Gabe Dinette (Duke) – MD, 9-1
174: No. 16 Matt Finesilver (Duke) def. Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh) – TF, 15-0 (7:00)
184: Gregg Harvey (Pittsburgh) def. Vincent Baker (Duke) – MD, 10-2
197: No. 9 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) def. Kaden Russell (Duke) – MD, 11-2
285: Jonah Niesenbaum (Duke) def. Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) – Dec., 3-2
Extra Matches
149: Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) def. Ty Mills (Duke) – Fall (3:52)
184: Gregg Harvey (Pittsburgh) def. Vincent Baker (Duke) – MD, 14-5

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