Missouri sophomore Mark Ellis recorded a tech fall in the final match of the evening to give the seventh-ranked Tigers of Missouri (2-0) a 22-21 victory over the 13th-ranked Pride of Hofstra (0-1) before 2,017 fans at the David S. Mack Sports Complex Saturday night.

Pride sophomore Lou Ruggirello pinned Missouri's second-ranked senior Tyler McCormick in 5:30 at 133 pounds, while teammates Charles Griffin at 141, Dave Tomasette at 125, and Alton Lucas at 174 posted major decision victories to lead Hofstra.

The Pride jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the match after three bouts. Tomasette, the seventh-ranked Hofstra senior from Sewell, NJ, tallied a 15-2 major decision over Missouri red-shirt freshman Tony Pescaglia at 125. Ruggirello, ranked ninth at 133 in the preseason poll, built a 5-1 lead over the second-ranked Tiger senior Tyler McCormick before recording the pin at 5:30. Hofstra's lone returning All-American, senior Charles Griffin, ranked second in the country at 141, cruised to a 13-0 major victory over Missouri's unranked junior Marcus Hoehn.

But the Tigers came roaring back in the middle weights as ninth-ranked senior Josh Wagner tallied a 5-2 win over Hofstra's unranked sophomore Mitch Smith at 149 pounds. Missouri junior Michael Chandler, ranked 13th, closed the match gap to 14-7 with a 15-6 major win over the Pride's unranked sophomore Jonny Bonilla-Bowman. Tiger sophomore Nick Marable, ranked 18th at 165, rolled to a major win over Hofstra freshman Ryan Patrovich, 10-2, to close to 14-11 at the intermission.

Hofstra's unranked junior Alton Lucas snapped the Tigers' three-match winning streak with a 10-1 victory over senior James Williamson at 174 to boost the Hofstra lead to 18-11. But Missouri's sixth-ranked junior Raymond Jordan pinned Hofstra freshman Jeff Siciliano in 4:20 at 184 to close to within one at 18-17.

Joe Rovelli, Hofstra's 10th-ranked senior who moved up a weight class to 197 this year, upset Missouri's fourth-ranked sophomore Max Askren, 4-2, making four, first period points stand up for the win and a 21-18 lead heading into the finale. Ellis, ranked 14th in the heavyweight class, jumped out to a 5-1 first period lead over Hofstra junior James Guerin on the way to a 22-5 five-point, tech fall win that gave the Tigers their margin of victory.

The Pride will return to action next Saturday, November 17 when they travel to State College, PA to face the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State at 1 p.m.