Nathan Tomasello lost his first match of the season on Friday night, and it couldn't have come at a tougher time for the Buckeye junior as he fell in the NCAA semifinals to Iowa senior Cory Clark by the score of 7-4.
Tomasello struck first, but Clark was able to stick to his game plan and scored two takedowns late in the third period utilizing the same merkle position to earn the victory.
This marks the second consecutive season that Tomasello has fallen in the semifinals to an Iowa Hawkeye, losing to Thomas Gilman last year at 125. Clark will face former teammate Seth Gross, now of South Dakota State on Saturday night for the NCAA championship.
Tomasello will drop to the consolation semifinals, where he will face the winner of Nebraska's Eric Montoya and Lehigh's Scott Parker on Saturday morning. Tomasello could finish as high as third at 133 or as low as sixth, depending on the outcome of his Saturday morning matches.
The NCAA consolation semifinals and placement matches will begin on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
