HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Wil Gil came up one match shy of becoming a place winner at the Matmen Open on Thursday as he feel by a 7-2 decision to second-seeded and No. 14 Parker Filius of Purdue during the Round of 12. Filius was one of five nationally-ranked wrestlers in the loaded 141 lb. weight class in which Gil was seeded sixth.

Gil dictated the action early with his own shot, but was tied up on that attempt as the first period finished 1-0 after a disputed call on illegal front headlock. With both wrestlers looking to build their national resume, Filius choose down in the second period and added a takedown for a 4-1 lead after two periods before wrapping up the 7-2 victory.

Today's result capped a 2-2 weekend for the Diplomat captain at the prestigious national tournament. On Wednesday, Gil picked up wins against Cameron Johnson of Aurora and Noah Levett of Bucknell.

With the Diplomats now having battled a number of nationally-ranked wrestlers throughout their lineup, the team will look to take those lessons as a launching point for the 2022 calendar year. When the Diplomats return to action next week, they will do so in a tri-meet against Presbyterian (3:30 p.m.) and Brown (5 p.m.). Those two teams will first dual each other at 1 p.m. on Thursday, January 6 before taking on F&M. The Diplomats are currently 4-0 in dual meets this season, their best start to a season since the 1992-93 campaign.

The following day, the team will partake in the David H. Lehman F&M Open. That tournament is set for Friday, January 7 with wrestling set to get underway at 9 a.m. Fans can subscribe to FloWrestling for live coverage of every match throughout the entire tournament.