The Penn State wrestling team found out how the Philistine army must have felt as it watched Goliath fall to the ground after being struck in the head by the stone of David, as it fell to No. 8 Iowa State 20-18 yesterday.

Even though the Nittany Lions (10-4, 2-3) were down by six with three matches to go, there was no sense of panic on the Penn State bench. The reason? No. 1 Eric Bradley was set to lead a Penn State charge over three outranked opponents.

Fresh off of what was arguably his best match, defeating No. 7 Paul Bradley of Iowa 4-2 on Friday night, Bradley was once again ready to put the Lions on the board. However, his opponent, No. 9 Kurt Backes would see to it that the Lions' only undefeated wrestler would not leave Hilton Coliseum with an unblemished record.

"We knew Backes was no slouch, but we kinda expected Bradley to pull it out," heavyweight Aaron Anspach said.

Backes opened the second period with an escape point, but Bradley quickly responded jumping out to a 2-1 lead. The Cyclone grappler would escape and score another takedown before the second period ended, giving him a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.

Bradley started the third period in the down position and Backes quickly turned him on his back. Bradley managed to roll out to avoid the pin, but Backes was awarded three points on the near fall. Bradley gave up two more points to stall warnings and ended the match down 10-2 for a major decision, which put Penn State down 20-10.

Sunderland said that Bradley was poked in the eye during the match, but did not show much sympathy.

"He's got to suck it up. You're out there wrestling, you're going to get poked in the eye, you're going to get head butted. That's hard-nosed wrestling," Sunderland said. "He didn't deserve to win."

Phil Davis and Anspach pulled out major decisions but neither was able to come up with the pin that would have given the Lions a draw. Anspach, replacing Edwards, who was off for rest, entered the last match with the team down by six.

"I was trying to look for the pin when I was going through the match, but I just couldn't come up with it," Anspach said. "I just fell short."

James Yonushonis ended a Penn State four-match loss spurt between 141 and 165 that gave the Cyclones 16 straight points.

Yonushonis held a 3-0 edge over his unranked opponent as he headed into the third period. Even after Bertelino escaped to begin the period, it seemed as if Yonushonis had the match locked up. But a takedown with just three seconds left sent it into overtime.

Yonushonis battled through one sudden victory and two 30 second overtime periods, before finally scoring a takedown in the second sudden victory period.

"I feel I made a lot of crucial mistakes in it, which enabled the match to go to overtime," Yonushonis said. "He's a tough opponent. He beat me last year, so I knew it was going to be a tough match."

On Friday, Penn State notched a win against Iowa for the first time in seven years with a 21-12 victory. Sophomore Tim Haas collected a pin to fuel the Lions' victory.

Sunderland's frustration continued to mount after the heartbreaking loss to the Cyclones.

"I don't want to overanalyze too much and get on the guys, but they need to know that that this performance today and this weekend, even with the win over Iowa, is something we're not going to tolerate," Sunderland said.