"I'm really pleased with the way the guys wrestled today," said Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel. "We came in expecting Harvard to win maybe five or six, but to earn a 6-4 split in our favor was good. We're using today and the two big matches tomorrow to simulate the Easterns. We survived day one day, now we have to get ready for the ‘finals' against two pretty good teams."
Lehigh won six of ten bouts against the Crimson (0-5, 0-2 EIWA), scoring bonus points in five.
Sophomore Matt Fisk secured the first of three Lehigh falls in the dual, scoring two quick first period takedowns before pinning Ryan Fitzgerald in 47 seconds. Harvard came back to take a 9-6 lead, behind decisions from Robbie Preston at 133 and Max Meltzer at 141 over Lehigh's Seth and Matt Ciasulli; and then a 10-1 major decision by sixth ranked J.P. O'Connor over sophomore Trevor Chinn.
Senior Dave Nakasone gave Lehigh its second lead with his first of two falls on the day, as he broke open a close bout with a takedown of Bobby Latessa before earning the fall with just over a minute remaining in the third period.
A decision from Frankie Colletta over Lehigh freshman Manuel Schubert put the Crimson ahead again, but senior tri-captain David Helfrich gave the Mountain Hawks the lead for good, with a first period pin of Patrick Ziemnik at 174.
At 184, freshman David Craig picked up one of his most impressive wins of the season, scoring a first period takedown near the edge of the mat and holding on to knock off No. 11 Louis Caputo 5-3.
Senior Matt Cassidy returned to the Lehigh lineup at 197 and put together seven takedowns to clinch the dual for the Mountain Hawks with a 16-6 win over Jonathan Butler. In the final bout against Harvard, Paul Weibel twice snuck his way out of takedown attempts from Harvard's second-ranked, undefeated heavyweight Bode Ogunwole. After the second attempt, Ogunwole called for injury time for an apparent left arm injury and did not return giving Weibel a win by injury default.
Against Brown (1-6, 1-2 EIWA) Lehigh's lightweights propelled the Mountain Hawks to a 12-0 lead, as Fisk won by tech fall over Greg Einfrank, while Seth Ciasulli managed a 3-1 win in sudden victory over Jeff Schell. The decisive takedown came with 25 seconds left in the second sudden victory period. Matt Ciasulli followed with a major decision over Mark Savino.
The Mountain Hawks suffered a tough break at 149 when Chinn was forced to default his match to Lenny Marandino after suffering an elbow injury with under a minute to go. Chinn was leading at the time, when Marandino tried a throw. The injury was serious enough that Chinn was unable to continue, giving Brown six points on the scoreboard.
Lehigh then rolled up three straight wins, with Nakasone adding his second fall of the day, once again scoring a third period pin of Tom Fazio. Schubert and Helfrich followed with wins by decision to put Lehigh up 24-6.
Brown put three more points on the board when Matt Gevelinger earned a 5-3 decision over Alex Iacocca, who was given an opportunity by Strobel at 184.
Cassidy completed a successful return to action with a first period pin over Larry Otsuka. In the final bout of the day, Weibel was caught on his back and pinned by Brown's Levon Mock.
The Mountain Hawks will continue their busy weekend with two more duals on Sunday. Lehigh will visit EIWA foe and No. 24 Columbia at 1 p.m. for the teams' first dual meet in ten years. The Mountain Hawks will then head to the New York Athletic Club to face No. 6 Hofstra at 5 p.m. The Columbia match will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as online at lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports.
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