Lehigh University
Michigan
Lehigh falls to Wolverines in Grace finale
9/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
Bethlehem, PA – Lehigh (0-1, 0-0 EIWA) was unable to mount much offense against No. 5 Michigan (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten), while bidding farewell to the historic Grace Hall in their season opening match on Friday night. In front of a sold out crowd of 2,676, the Mountain Hawks fell by a final of 26-12.
In the opening bout at heavyweight, junior Joe Sahl was only able to gain one escape on Michigan’s Greg Wagner and lost by a score of 6-1.
At 125, No. 16 Mario Stuart of Lehigh lost by major decision, 10-2 to No. 7 A.J. Grant. In the first of many Lehigh debuts on the evening, No. 13 Cory Cooperman fought an intense match, but came up short as Michigan junior, Foley Dowd won by a score of 13-7. Senior Tristan Boyd could not break the Wolverine win streak, as he simply ran out of time, losing by a score of 3-2. In the first fall of the night, Lehigh sophomore Aaron Kling was pinned by Michigan sophomore Jeremiah Tobias at 6:38. At 157, freshman Derek Zinck lost by major decision, 12-4, to sophomore Ryan Bertin, to give the Wolverines six straight bouts.
The Mountain Hawks finally broke onto the scoreboard at 165, as No. 5 Troy Letters picked up Lehigh’s first victory of the night with a 5-2 victory over Michigan’s Pat Owen in a hard-fought match. Lehigh picked up its only fall of the night in the next bout, when No. 13 Brad Dillon, 174, picked up a pin at 4:38. Freshman Travis Frick continued Lehigh’s win-streak as he defeated Willie Breyer in his first match as a Mountain Hawk at 184.
In the most anticipated match of the night, at 197, No. 5 Kyle Smith of Michigan upset No. 1 John Trenge of Lehigh 6-4.
"He made some mistakes in the end that cost him," Head Coach Greg Strobel said.
While this may not have been what Lehigh envisioned to close out the "Snake Pit", Strobel is optimistic about his young team.
"Michigan is well trained and they wrested well," Strobel said. "We made a lot of rookie mistakes and there was a lot of pressure," Strobel said. "These kinds of things make them grow fast and I think that we will learn from this and improve as the season goes on."
Lehigh will try to move into the win column next Saturday, when they travel to Iowa State. The first match is set for 7:00.
Weight | Match-up | Result |
Hwt. | Greg Wagner, Michigan dec. Joe Sahl, Lehigh | 6-1 |
125 | A.J. Grant, Michigan maj. dec. Mario Stuart, Lehigh | 10-2 |
133 | Foley Dowd, Michigan dec. Cory Cooperman, Lehigh | 13-7 |
141 | Clark Forward, Michigan dec. Tristan Boyd, Lehigh | 3-2 |
149 | Jeremiah Tobias, Michigan, fall Aaron Kling, Lehigh | Fall, 6:38 |
157 | Ryan Bertin, Michigan, maj. dec. Derek Zinck, Lehigh | 12-4 |
165 | Troy Letters, Lehigh dec. Pat Owen, Michigan | 5-2 |
174 | Brad Dillon, Lehigh, fall Richard Boudro, Michigan | Fall, 4:38 |
184 | Travis Frick, Lehigh dec. Willie Breyer, Michigan | 6-3 |
197 | Kyle Smith, Michigan, dec. Jon Trenge, Lehigh | 6-4 |
For more information, please contact Geoff Goyne, Lehigh Sports Media Relations.
Posted Friday, November 22, 2002
