University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
NCAA Championships
Fay Caps Career With 6th-Place Finish at NCAA Championships
3/21/2009 8:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Final Team Scores in PDF Format 
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - University of Northern Iowa senior Moza Fay secured a sixth-place finish at 165 pounds Saturday at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. It marks the second straight season Fay has capped his season with an All-America honor.
The Panthers finished 22nd in the team standings with 25 team points. It marks the seventh top-25 finish at the NCAA Championships for the Panthers under head coach Brad Penrith.
Fay (Anamosa, Iowa), who placed fifth in 2008 at 165 pounds, dropped a sudden victory decision to No. 3-seed Ryan Morningstar in the medal round and then was unable to overcome a deficit against Bucknell's Andrew Rendos in the fifth-place match.
"Today just wasn't my day," Fay said. "I'm disappointed but I won't let it take away anything from what I did throughout my career. I'm happy with the year I had and I'm glad to say I'll be Purple and Gold for life."
Fay capped his Panther career with 119 wins to rank No. 7 on the school's all-time list. Fay also added a pair of falls during the NCAA Championships and wrapped his career with 37 falls to rank fifth on the Panthers' all-time pins list.
Fay became the UNI's 38th two-time All-American and the first to repeat since 2005 when both Eric Hauan and Sean Stender completed the feat. Stender ended his Panther career as a three-time All-American.
Medal Round - Saturday Morning
Fay battled No. 3-seed Ryan Morningstar (Iowa) in the medal round to begin Saturday's action. The duo battled to a scoreless tie at the end of one period. Fay then took the lead with an escape two seconds into the second period after an optional start by Morningstar. Morningstar tied the match at 1-1 with an escape at the 1:31 mark of the third period. Morningstar then fed off the Iowa crowd and scored a takedown with 33 seconds left in the match, however Fay responded with a reversal with 12 seconds left to quiet the crowd and send the match to overtime. But Morningstar would not be denied and he scored the sudden victory with 36 seconds left with a takedown.
Fay then matched up against Andrew Rendos (Bucknell) for fifth place. Rendos got on the board first with a four-point move off a body lock at the 1:26 mark of the first period. Fay notched a reversal to cut the lead in half with 54 seconds remaining in the first at 4-2. But Rendos was able to wriggle out of Fay's grasp and secured a reversal of his own with only three ticks left in the first. However, during the reversal Rendos was caught locking his hands and a penalty point was given to Fay to make it 6-3 in favor of Rendos after one period.
Rendos escaped with 24 seconds remaining in the second period which led to the biggest point of the match. Fay was in on a single-leg attack and appeared to score a takedown, but a scramble by Rendos ended with the Bucknell grappler receiving a takedown after a conference by the officials. Fay then trailed 9-3 entering the third period. Fay was able to trim the lead to 9-5 with a reversal with 41 seconds left and was only able to tally a riding time point for the 9-6 loss.
UNI BOUT-BY-BOUT RESULTS FROM SATURDAY
165 lbs. - Moza Fay
L, #3 Ryan Morningstar (Iowa), 5-3 SV
L, Andrew Rendos (Bucknell), 9-6
