Johnson, Harrier lead Pioneers to dual meet win

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville moved to 2-1 in the WIAC Saturday afternoon with a 23-17 win over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

With the meet starting at 157 pounds, the Pioneers saw themselves down 0-6 to the Blugolds (1-2) after two tough matches. Jon Goetz and Grant Wedepohl responded for UW-Platteville with 4-1 and 3-1 decisions.

Two matches later D'Andre Johnson recorded a pin at 285 pounds to put UW-Platteville up 12-9. Then came the turning point of the meet at 125 pounds.

Beau Harrier, earning his first career dual meet start, put together a fantastic match through the first two periods. Close to picking up a major decision late in the third period, Harrier made a great move to reverse control on Abe Dickenson. He stayed on the offensive and with just eight seconds left in the match, pinned his Blugold opponent.

At 133 pounds Scott Arneson got UW-Platteville a technical fall. The match win gave UW-Platteville a 23-9 lead and with only two matches remaining, sealed a Pioneers' meet victory.

Directly from DeRoehn
"Going into halftime down 9-6, I told the guys that we needed someone to step up and inspire their team for the second half.  D'Andre let it fly out there the whole time and got the fall. Then Beau fought his butt off the entire match and came away with a decisive pin which gave us a huge boost to finish off the dual strong."|
-Head Coach Mike DeRoehn

"It was another hard fought WIAC dual meet so of course we are glad to come out with a victory.  But I would have been proud of the team regardless, because of their effort and the unselfish attitude by some of our student-athletes stepping up for the team."
-DeRoehn on the Pioneers' performance

The Pioneers are now off until after the holidays. They next wrestle January 6^th at the Loras Flanagan Invite.