Robbed.
The word comes to mind when one thinks of tragic Oregon sports moments such as the men’s basketball team’s overtime loss to Washington on Jan. 18, or the football team’s last-second loss to UCLA in 1999.
Now the Oregon wrestling team has a tragedy of its own.
After leading No. 15 ranked Arizona State for seven matches, Oregon could have clinched the upset with a win at 157 pounds. Junior Eugene Harris, ranked No. 19 in the nation, knew he would need at least a decision against No. 13 Rocky Smart to push the Oregon lead to nine points and secure a win.
Smart and Harris exchanged takedowns and escapes throughout regulation for a 4-4 deadlock. In overtime, where a takedown results in a win, Smart gained position over Harris out of bounds with one second remaining. Harris responded with a “side whizzer,” a move that prevents control by grabbing onto the opponents’ hips.
But after a deliberation between officials, Smart was awarded the takedown and the win.
“It was a tough call,” head coach Chuck Kearney said. “You’d like to see in a situation like that to allow the wrestlers determine it rather than the refs.”
“When they made the call I was surprised,” Harris said. “I’ve been in that position before in matches and I’ve scored out of that position.”
Arizona State went on to win the final match by pin to earn the comeback victory.
“We want this match to be a motivator for us,” Kearney said. “Our main goal for the season is to win the Pac-10 Championship and we’re right where we want to be.”
The Ducks fell victim to slowdown tactics in the five matches won by Arizona State.
The Sun Devils “do not wrestle with an aggressive style,” Kearney said. “If you allow the opponent to control the tempo, they are getting what they want. We don’t believe in [a slowdown style] but we have to be ready for it.”

Arizona State’s No. 15 David Douglas needed only one takedown against sophomore Brian Watson to earn a win after two and a half rounds of virtually no action.
Senior Doug Lee earned a hard-fought 8-5 win against a complacent R.D. Pursell at 184 pounds in his last regular season match at McArthur Court.
“I was pushing it,” Lee said. “I got much more tired than he did. I don’t think I could have scored much more on him.”
Sophomore Tony Overstake earned one of his biggest wins of the season at 141 pounds. The sophomore came into the match with a 0-1 record against Arizona State’s Dana Holland. Six takedowns later, Overstake had enacted revenge with an 11-5 decision.
“Things hadn’t been going the way I liked this season,” Overstake said. “Coach Kearney said that it’s just a couple of little things that I need to be doing. Tonight, I just wanted to go out and get it done.”
Oregon standouts Chael Sonne and Shaun Williams helped the Oregon effort with extra-point wins. Sonnen earned a decisive pin over Mike Marshall in 52 seconds while Williams scored a 19-6 major decision over Chris Knox.
Unfortunately, the Sun Devils matched the pin and major decision at 141 and 174 pounds.
Sophomore Eric Webb won his ninth straight match with a 5-3 win over Hector Torres at heavyweight. The No. 4 Webb is now a team-best 24-4 on the season.
“We knew we needed to win two of the three matches at 133, 149 and 157,” Kearney said. “We came close to winning all three. We just didn’t get it done.”
Oregon has one remaining dual match before hosting the Pacific-10 Conference championships Feb. 25-26. The Ducks (7-7 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) have a week off to prepare for the second installment of the Civil War on Feb. 14 in Corvallis.