"Overall I thought we wrestled pretty well," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "There were some problems tactically and strategically, but those are probably the easiest things to fix. I liked our fight. I thought we out-shot them tonight. Our goal was to move forward and attack and overall we did that."
The dual began with the upset-minded Bison winning three of the first four bouts by a combined five points. At 125, Paul Petrov posted his fourth straight win against Lehigh wrestlers and third win against sophomore Darian Cruz, prevailing 5-3 in the tiebreakers. Cruz was cautioned four times from the referee's position costing him two key points as he fell despite scoring the only takedown of the match. Tied 3-3 in the tiebreakers, Petrov earned a penalty point for a caution and rode out the first half and then scored an escape in the second half, with Cruz unable to pull even.
The Bison made it two consecutive wins as Grim Gonzalez upset senior Mason Beckman 7-6 at 133. Gonzalez surprised Beckman with two quick first period takedowns and then broke a 4-4 tie in the third with an escape and a third takedown.
Lehigh got on the board with a pin from freshman Cortlandt Schuyler, who made his debut in place of Randy Cruz at 141. Schuyler threw Bucknell's Tyler Smith to his back in the first period and secured the fall at 1:06 to even the dual at 6-6 after three bouts.
"Cortlandt's very good and in the room it's very competitive," Santoro said. "We're fortunate to have so many good people. Cortlandt was excited to be out here and he's excited to wrestle again on Sunday, so we'll see how this plays out."
Bucknell reclaimed the lead at 149 as Victor Lopez won a 9-7 decision over junior Laike Gardner. Lopez scored a pair of first period takedowns and added a reversal and takedown in the third.
Junior Mitch Minotti evened the dual for a second time with a 4-2 win over Logan Kerin at 157. Minotti scored a first period takedown, rode out the second period and escaped in the third as the dual was tied at 9-9 at the halfway point.
Ryan Preisch was the second Lehigh freshman to debut and made it 2-for-2 for Mountain Hawk freshmen with a 5-1 win over Robert Schlitt at 165. After a scoreless first period, Preisch took a 2-0 lead on a stalling point and escape. He added a third period takedown plus 1:08 of riding time advantage.
"He hadn't wrestled in almost 11 months," Santoro said. "You could see he kind of eased himself into the match but got better as the match went on. He was very tight that first period. Once he got going a little bit he controlled the match a little better."
At 174, Bucknell evened the score for the third time as Lehigh's Ben Haas scored first, but Bucknell's Rustin Barrick took over late to win 8-3.
Wrestling in front of his hometown crowd, Brown delivered Lehigh's second bonus win of the night with a dominant 25-10 technical fall win over Nick Stephani, who bumped up from 174 in place of Tom Sleigh. Brown scored 12 takedowns and added a second period escape, while conceding just ten escapes. The win gave Lehigh a 17-12 lead as the four point technical fall (no near fall points) was abolished.
Bolich clinched the win for the Mountain Hawks with a 6-1 win over Tyler Greene at 197. Takedowns in the first and third periods plus an escape and more than three minutes of riding time did the job for the senior.
Wessell wrestled his first match since the 2014 NCAA Tournament and overcame a slow start to post four takedowns, including three in the final period, to defeat Chuck Boddy 10-3. Boddy wrestled in place of injured Bison heavyweight Joe Stolfi.
Takedowns were 24-8 in favor of the Mountain Hawks, who were also whistled for 11 cautions.
The Mountain Hawks will send a contingent to the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. in Vestal, N.Y. Lehigh's next dual meet action will be at the Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals, November 15 in Troy, N.Y. The Mountain Hawks will face a pair of Big Ten opponents in Minnesota (11:15 a.m.) and Nebraska (1:15 p.m.).
Results:
125 – Paul Petrov (Bucknell) dec. Darian Cruz (Lehigh) 5-3, tb
133 – Grim Gonzalez (Bucknell) dec. Mason Beckman (Lehigh) 7-6
141 – Cortlandt Schuyler (Lehigh) Fall Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 1:06
149 – Victor Lopez (Bucknell) dec. Laike Gardner (Lehigh) 9-7
157 – Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) dec. Logan Kerin (Bucknell) 4-2
165 – Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) dec. Robert Schlitt (Bucknell) 5-1
174 – Ruston Barrick (Bucknell) dec. Ben Haas (Lehigh) 8-3
184 – Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) tech fall Nick Stephani (Bucknell) 25-10, 6:16
197 – John Bolich (Lehigh) dec. Tyler Greene (Bucknell) 6-1
285 – Max Wessell (Lehigh) dec. Chuck Boddy (Bucknell) 10-3
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