Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team fell 19-15 at UW-Whitewater Thursday night in Kachel Gymnasium. The Eagles, ranked 12th on this week's National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Top-25 Poll, drop 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks, ranked eighth in NCAA Division III, improve to 9-5 overall and 4-0 in the conference.

It marked the second meeting between the teams this season after UW-Whitewater earned a 23-18 victory over UWL at the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals January 5 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

UWL won four matches in Thursday's dual. UW-Whitewater took the first two matches for a 7-0 lead. The opening match featured a pair of ranked wrestlers as UW-Whitewater's Mike Tortorice, ranked ninth in the country, won by major decision (8-0) over UWL's Zach Villarreal, ranked seventh. The Warhawks' Hazen Rice, ranked seventh at 133-pounds, followed with a win by decision (4-0) over the Eagles' Sawyer Sarbacker.

The Eagles cut the lead to 7-5 after Hayden Schlough's technical fall (21-2, 6:46) over the Warhawks' Jaime Valdez. UW-WHitewater took the next two matches by decision for a 13-5 lead. Austin Quartullo won by decision (5-3) over Spencer Nevills at 149-pounds followed by Isaiah Vela's win (4-3) over Grant Zamin at 157-pounds. Vela earned the win with a takedown in the final :10 of the match.

Mitch Hertel won by decision (7-3) for UWL over Ryder Sigler at 165-pounds to cut UW-Whitewater's lead to 13-8. The Warhawks' Nicholas Bonomo followed with a win by decision (6-5) over the Eagles' Sawyer Massie at 174-pounds with a late reversal to give UW-Whitewater 16-8 advantage.

UWL took two of the final three matches. Sixth-ranked Sean O'Neil won by decision (4-1) over Nick Stencel at 184-pounds to cut the lead to 16-11 before UW-Whitewater's Jordan Newman, the top-ranked wrestler at 197-pounds, won by decision (7-4) over UWL's Wesley Schultz. Konrad Ernst finished the dual for UWL with a major decision (14-1) over Nick Graziano at 285-pounds.

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 20 at the UW-Whitewater Willie Myers Open at 9 a.m.