“To come in here and beat Penn on their home turf, that’s a good thing,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “We won some hard battles today through fight, but technically, we got beat. We’re coming off an emotional day yesterday. We talked about it. We were concerned about it.
Santoro continued, “In some cases today we weren’t aggressive on our feet. That’s something we talked about a month ago. We thought we fixed that. If you don’t shoot you’re not going to win matches. That’s something we’re going to have to work on over the next two weeks.”
For the second straight day sophomore John McDonald gave Lehigh a spark right off the bat, as on Sunday he opened the dual with an 8-0 major decision over Mark Rappo. McDonald tallied a takedown in each period and added an escape and riding time to put the Mountain Hawks in front 4-0.
At 133, senior Matt Fisk found himself down 3-1 late in the third period against Brian Ortenzio, having given up a point for locked hands, an escape and a point for three cautions. In the final seconds, Fisk took his best shot of the bout which resulted in a takedown with two seconds left. The two extra seconds of riding time got Fisk to a minute, which was the deciding factor in a 4-3 win.
Seth Ciasulli’s bout with Zack Kemmerer at 141 also came down to the wire. Sudden victory was needed with the bout tied 2-2, and in the final seconds of the overtime period Ciasulli used a leg scissors to get Kemmerer’s shoulders to the mat for a fall in 7:53 to extend Lehigh’s lead to 13-0.
Freshman Joey Napoli completed a four-bout Lehigh run to start the dual with a dominant 11-2 major decision over Zach Ellis.
The Quakers netted their first win at 157, where Matt Dragon, wrestling with knee and shoulder injuries, overcame a 4-1 first period deficit, scoring a reversal and two-point near fall in the third period to rally past sophomore Sean Bilodeau 9-7.
At 165, sophomore Brandon Hatchett continued his strong close to the season with a 5-0 decision over Gabriel Burak. Hatchett scored a first period takedown, and turned Burak for two near fall points in the second period.
Penn’s second win came at 174 as Scott Giffin was impressive in a 12-5 decision over freshman Robert Hamlin, but Craig clinched the dual for the Mountain Hawks building a 9-0 lead against Harrison Cook before decking the Quaker freshman in 4:12.
Sophomore Joe Kennedy entered the day on an eight bout win streak, but could not find his offense as he suffered his first loss since the Virginia Duals. Micah Burak escaped in the first 30-second tiebreaker and then rode out Kennedy second to prevail 3-2 at 197.
In the final bout of the dual, sophomore Zach Rey was dominant, scoring six takedowns, including the bonus-win clincher in the final seconds as he defeated Tyler Blakely 14-6.
“We found a way to win a lot of matches this weekend by sheer guts,” explained Santoro. “That’s something you can’t really put together in two weeks. The technical stuff you can work on. Right now these guys are fighting hard to win every single match and that’s the most important thing going into the post season.”
Next up for the Mountain Hawks is the 106th EIWA Championships, which Lehigh will host at Stabler Arena March 6-7. Tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by logging on to Lehighsports.com.
Results:
125 John McDonald (Lehigh) maj. dec. Mark Rappo (Penn) 8-0
133 Matt Fisk (Lehigh) dec. Bryan Ortenzio (Penn) 4-3
141 Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) Fall Zack Kemmerer (Penn) 7:53, s.v.
149 Joey Napoli (Lehigh) maj. dec. Zach Ellis (Penn) 11-2
157 Matt Dragon (Penn) dec. Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) 9-7
165 Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) dec. Gabriel Burak (Penn) 5-0
174 Scott Giffin (Penn) dec. Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) 12-5
184 David Craig (Lehigh) Fall Harrison Cook (Penn) 4:12
197 Micah Burak (Penn) dec. Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) 3-2, t.b.
285 Zach Rey (Lehigh) maj. dec. Tyler Blakely (Penn) 14-6
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now