Scott Moore, a 141-pound senior wrestler, has been perfect this year. No, really -- perfect. 40-0 perfect. Not a single time this season, at the end of a match, has the referee raised the hand of one of Moore's opponents. Moore has a chance complete the astounding feat of breaking the Virginia career record for pin falls, which he has already tied with 28, in a single season of competition.
When Virginia (8-5, 2-1 ACC) hosts Maryland (3-7, 0-3) tonight at 7 p.m., Moore will attempt to keep his streak of 40 wins alive, likely going against junior Jason Gribschaw, who is currently 2-1 in the ACC at 141 pounds.
Moore is not the only Virginia wrestler going into this final ACC dual meet with a perfect record to protect. Fellow senior Tim Foley is 3-0 in the ACC (27-4 overall) at 165 pounds; and with three wins in the final four matches of the regular season, he could crack 30 victories. This will be the first home match for Virginia since late January when it took on Old Dominion, Kent State and Virginia Tech in a quad meet.
"It gets a little exhausting dragging around the Xbox around to the hotel rooms, trying to hook it up on the bus -- it gets to be mentally draining," Foley said. "It's going to be nice to be home in front of our fans."
The past two weekends on the road have been interesting ones for the Cavaliers, including a stop at Lehigh, a perennial powerhouse and two ACC dual meets, versus North Carolina State and Duke.
Maryland is last in the ACC at 0-3, and is 2-8 in their last ten matches. Most recently, they split a dual meet with Old Dominion and UNC-Greensboro, beating ODU 22-14.
The top point scorer on the year for the Terps is senior Matt Pandullo at 125 pounds, who has registered more than twice the points (33) of any other wrestler on the squad. However, most of that success has come outside the ACC, as Pandullo is only 1-2 in conference competition. A win against the Terrapins could be a major lift after the loss to Duke last Saturday, Virginia's first in the ACC.
"After the (Duke) match was over we were pretty down," Virginia coach Lenny Bernstein said. "Hopefully it will be a nice learning experience and we know that we can use it as inspiration going into the conference tournament."
With the conference tournament a little more than two weeks away, Moore and Foley could play a large part in the Cavaliers' ACC championship hopes. Foley seems to enjoy sharing the spotlight with his nationally ranked, number one teammate, and the stars' chemistry has affected their productivity this year.
"It's actually been helpful. I don't think I would have even come close to breaking what would have been the single season pins record (11) if it wasn't for [Scott] -- just friendly competition and joking around with him, saying I'm going to catch him have helped me get those pins" Foley said.
For Foley, who is 45-3 in dual matches over the last three years, including this season, it is the last ACC dual match of his career. With individual streaks and momentum on the line going into the conference tournament, Virginia could use a solid outing against the Terrapins.
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