Lehigh University
No. 12 Central Michigan
CMU hands Lehigh first loss in Va. Duals final
1/10/2009 9:30:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
HAMPTON, Va. – No. 8 Lehigh suffered its first loss of the dual season as No. 12 Central Michigan won six of ten bouts to defeat the Mountain Hawks 21-12 in the finals of the Virginia Duals Saturday night at the Hampton Coliseum. The Mountain Hawks (15-1) were led by junior co-captain Matt Fisk who upset 13th ranked Connor Beebe at 133, but the Chippewas showed too much firepower in winning six bouts including a bonus win at 125.
The loss snaps Lehigh’s 16-match dual win streak dating back to the end of last season while Central Michigan, the No. 3 seed in the 16-team field captured its first Virginia Duals Championship and improves to 9-1 on the season.
“Central Michigan is just a really solid team,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “They have a lot of strong guys and to beat a team like that we needed to be more aggressive and create some more chances and capitalize on those chances.”
The Chippewas started the dual with bonus points as ninth-ranked Scotti Sentes pinned sophomore Mitch Berger in 1:59.
Fisk put Lehigh on the board with his second win over a ranked opponent this weekend. Fisk scored an early first period takedown and added a third period three point near fall in his 7-2 decision over Beebe.
Central Michigan extended its lead with consecutive 5-3 wins at 141 and 149. Unranked Tony D’Alie took down junior Seth Ciasulli twice in his win, while eighth ranked Steve Brown bested senior Trevor Chinn in a battle of ranked grapplers at 149.
Freshman Sean Bilodeau put three more team points on the board with a 3-2 win over Tyler Grayson at 157. Bilodeau rode out the second period and turned Grayson for two near fall points and a third period escape cancelled out Grayson’s third period takedown.
The matches at 165 and 174 pitted nationally ranked wrestlers from both teams, but in both cases Central Michigan’s higher ranked grapplers pulled out victories. No. 10 Trevor Stewart won a 9-2 decision over 16th ranked Mike Galante at 165, and then seventh-ranked Mike Miller won 2-0 over Alex Caruso.
Lehigh entered the final three bouts essentially needing to win out and get falls along the way. Junior David Craig started things off with a win, 6-2 over Vince DiDona at 184, but the Chippewas were able to clinch the title as Eric Simaz beat Joe Kennedy 5-2 at 197.
The final bout of the dual went into overtime, with freshman Zach Rey converting a single leg takedown with four seconds left in sudden victory to defeat Jarod Trice 3-1.
“I’m still proud of the way we wrestled this weekend,” concluded Santoro. “We have a great group of guys who are working really hard. There is still a little ways to go to get better, but we have a group that understands what it takes to be successful. They know it’s all about getting better in the month of March, and this group wants to be better. They want to be on the podium at the end of the year.”
The Mountain Hawks will return to the mats on Saturday January 17 when they travel to Navy. First match is set for 7 p.m. from Halsey Field House and all the action can be heard on WLVR-FM as well as online at Lehighsports.com.
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Results |
|
Score/Time |
|
125 |
Scotti Sentes (CMU) |
Fall |
Mitch Berger (Lehigh) |
1:59 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Connor Beebe (CMU) |
7-2 |
|
141 |
Tony D’Alie (CMU) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
5-3 |
|
149 |
Steve Brown (CMU) |
dec. |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
5-3 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Tyler Grayson (CMU) |
3-2 |
|
165 |
Trevor Stewart (CMU) |
dec. |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
9-2 |
|
174 |
Mike Miller (CMU) |
dec. |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
2-0 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Vince DiDona (CMU) |
6-2 |
|
197 |
Eric Simaz (CMU) |
dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
5-2 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jarod Trice (CMU) |
3-1 |
