With the victory, Lehigh improves to 13-4 on the dual season. The Mountain Hawks are the first of eight teams to punch their ticket to next weekend's National Duals championship finals in Iowa City, Iowa. The win as also the 99th for Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro as the Mountain Hawks' mentor.
"We definitely were flat and George Mason came ready to wrestle," Santoro said. "They were more excited than we were out there and that's a little bothersome right now. We don't have much time left in the season. We have to show up and wrestle hard for seven minutes. We weren't creating opportunities.
The dual began at 149 with freshman Drew Longo staking Lehigh to a 3-0 lead with a 6-4 decision over Blake Roulo. Longo conceded the first takedown but led 3-2 after two periods behind two escapes and a penalty point for stalling. With the match tied 3-3 early in the third, Longo scored a takedown on the edge and proceeded to put on a strong ride to earn riding time advantage.
The next two bouts did not go Lehigh's way as George Mason's Greg Flournoy rode a first period takedown to a 4-3 upset win over sophomore Mitch Minotti at 157. Patrick Davis then gave the Patriots the lead, collecting three takedowns in an 8-6 win over senior Marshall Peppelman at 165.
While Peppelman was unable to secure a win on senior night, fellow fifth-year wrestler Santiago Martinez pulled the Mountain Hawks level at 6-6 with an 8-3 decision over Ryan Forrest at 174. Martinez used an arm-throw and then a bear hug for two first period takedowns and added a third takedown in the third period plus an escape and more than two minutes of riding time.
Brown then gave Lehigh the lead back with his third pin of the season. After an early takedown, Brown threw both legs in on his ride and used a power half to deck Mika in just 1:49 to give the Mountain Hawks a 12-6 lead at intermission.
In the first match after the break, sophomore Elliot Riddick was impressive in a 23-6 technical fall win over Derek Dwyer at 197. Riddick collected six takedowns across the three periods and nearly pinned Dwyer in the second, settling for a three point near fall. After reversing to open the third, Riddick closed the match with two takedowns and another near fall to end the match at the 6:52 mark.
"It was good for Elliot to go out and score some points," Santoro said. "That was a big win for him last weekend and he has some good momentum right now."
George Mason's final win came at heavyweight as Jake Kettler defeated sophomore Doug Vollaro 3-2 in the second round of sudden victory over Vollaro picked up his second stall warning.
Freshman Scott Parker returned to the Lehigh lineup at 125 and posted an 8-1 win over Ibrahim Bunduka. Parker scored an early takedown and amassed more than two minutes of riding time in the first period. Leading 2-1 after two, Parker picked up an escape plus a takedown and two point near fall, plus 3:42 of riding time to narrowly miss the major decision.
Junior Mason Beckman picked up Lehigh's third bonus point win of the night with a 13-0 major decision over Vince Rodriguez at 133. Beckman scored a takedown in each period and added an early two point near fall plus three penalty points for Rodriguez stalling and 3:23 of riding time advantage.
The final bout of the dual went into overtime. Sophomore Randy Cruz gave up a third period takedown to Sahid Kargbo at 141 but finished regulation tied 2-2 behind a pair of escapes. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Cruz locked up a cradle and turned Kargbo for three near fall points in the first half of the tiebreaker before escaping in the second half to win 6-2.
"Coming in we knew bonus points were going to be big," Santoro said. "There were a lot of tight matchups. We thought 133 would be a big matchup as would 157 and 165. We dropped two of those three.
"There were some guys that did some nice things tonight," Santoro continued. "We have a big weekend next weekend and we have to be a lot sharper."
Lehigh held an 18-6 edge in takedowns and limited George Mason to just one takedown in the final seven bouts.
George Mason falls to 9-10 with the setback.
Lehigh will wrestle a to-be-determined opponent in the quarterfinals Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The semifinals are set for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET while the finals and third place match set for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The Mountain Hawks' quarterfinal opponent will be determined early in the week as the other seven regional matchups will take place on Sunday.
Results:
149 – Drew Longo (Lehigh) dec. Blake Roulo (GMU) 6-4
157 – Greg Flournoy (GMU) dec. Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) 4-3
165 – Patrick Davis (GMU) dec. Marshall Peppelman (Lehigh) 8-6
174 – Santiago Martinez (Lehigh) dec. Patrick Forrest (GMU) 8-3
184 – Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) Fall Daniel Mika (GMU) 1:49
197 – Elliot Riddick (Lehigh) tech fall Derek Dwyer (GMU) 23-5, 6:52
285 – Jake Kettler (GMU) dec. Doug Vollaro (Lehigh) 3-2, sv2
125 – Scott Parker (Lehigh) dec. Ibrahim Bunduka (GMU) 8-1
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) major dec. Vince Rodriguez (GMU) 13-0
141 – Randy Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Sahid Kargbo (GMU) 6-2, tb
Attendance – 1,027
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