In its last weekend of competition in 2015, the No. 18 North Carolina wrestling team participated in two dual meets, taking on Army on Saturday night and Old Dominion on Sunday. Both matches came down to the wire, with redshirt first-year Cory Daniel picking up key victories to seal wins in both.
The Tar Heels kicked off winter break by traveling to Brooklyn, where they squeaked out an 18-14 win on Saturday night against Army, using Daniel’s 5-4 victory over Trevor Smith in the 285-pound weight class to cinch the victory in the final bout.
UNC overcame two major decisions by Army with victories from redshirt first-year Tyrone Klump, redshirt senior Evan Henderson, redshirt senior Christian Barber, redshirt sophomore Ethan Ramos, redshirt senior Alex Utley and Daniel. Army fell to 1-3 on the season, with all three of their losses coming against nationally ranked opponents.
The Tar Heels then traveled to Norfolk, Va., for Sunday's match against No. 23 Old Dominion, which procured an early 15-3 lead before falling 19-18.
Redshirt senior Robert Henderson picked up a 3-0 decision for North Carolina to cut Old Dominion's lead to 15-6 entering the intermission. Ramos then picked up a 5-2 decision, and redshirt senior John Michael Staudenmayer tacked on a 3-0 decision to bring the Tar Heels within three points. Utley took No. 3 Jack Dechow to overtime, but fell 2-1 to put the Tar Heels back down by six heading into the final two matches.
But North Carolina sophomore Chip Ness picked up a crucial 7-2 decision to set up a decisive final bout between Daniel and Old Dominion's John D’Augostino.
With UNC trailing by three points, Daniel went into the third period hanging on to a one-point lead, which would have been enough to tie the match. But in the final period, Daniel reeled off nine points to earn a win by major decision at 11-3.
By picking up the major-decision victory, Daniel gave the Tar Heels just enough for the 19-18 victory.
