BRISTOL, R.I. – Senior Sean Fagan (Arlington, Mass.) and sophomore Daniel Del Gallo (Gardiner, Maine) paced the University of Southern Maine Huskies at the 2014 Scott Viera Invitational hosted by the Roger Williams University Hawks Saturday afternoon.
Both Fagan and Del Gallo finished as runners up in their respective weight classes as the Huskies placed sixth out of 10 teams, scoring 52 points, despite a limited roster of participants. Host RWU won the event scoring 197 points followed by Western New England University with 78 points. Plymouth State placed third scoring 74 points.
Wrestling at 149 pounds, Del Gallo opened the tourney with back-to-back wins by fall. The Huskies' sophomore captain pinned Matt Caracappa of Johnson & Wales in 3:00 to open his day and then took down Nicholas Demore of American International in 4:12 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the championship quarterfinals, Del Gallo continued to wrestle strong earning a 10-0 major decision victory against Matt Jones of Roger Williams. In the semifinals, Del Gallo remained dominant earning a win by fall in 3:40 over Johnson & Wales Jamiel Stapelton to advance to the championship. Grappling for first place, Del Gallo put in a strong effort but lost 9-5 to RWU's Daniel Downes to place second.
Competing at 197 pounds, Fagan posted a 3-1 record advancing to the finals. After a first round bye, Fagan opened his day pinning Michael Anderson of Johnson & Wales in 6:24 and then battled his way to a 4-0 decision over Jake Genereux of Roger Williams in the championship quarterfinals. Fagan showed tremendous grit in the championship semifinals rallying his way back from a 5-1 deficit to earn a 7-5 (SV 1) overtime win over Sheldon Rhoden of American International to earn a spot in the championship bout. In a spirited and closely contested match, Fagan dropped a narrow 5-4 decision in the championship to Roger William's David Welch.