Lehigh University
Drexel
No. 8 Mountain Hawks down Drexel 27-13
1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
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It was an ominous start for the Mountain Hawks when Mitch Berger was forced to default because of injury just 58 seconds into the opening bout of the night. The six points Michael Gomez earned for Drexel at 125 put Lehigh in a considerable hole from the start, and put the pressure on the main point scorers to come through for the Brown and White.
No. 16 Matt Fisk cut the deficit in half during the next bout, scoring a decision against Frank Cimato at 133. Fisk scored a takedown halfway in the second period, nearly pinning Cimato in the same motion, to grab the 2-0 lead. That proved to be all Fisk needed as he held Cimato scoreless in a 7-0 decision.
And less than two minutes later the deficit was completely erased, and then some, when Seth Ciasulli rallied the crowd with the first fall of the night at 141. Ciasulli scored an early takedown and slowly worked his way into position for the pin as the swell of excitement built in the crowd. When the referee slammed his hand on the mat just 1:34 into the bout, Lehigh was suddenly ahead 9-6.
No. 14 Trevor Chinn was already up by a sizeable margin against Robert Robinson from Drexel at 149, but the senior wanted more. Leading 9-2 in the second period, Chinn slipped Robinson’s arm behind his back and leveraged him over on the mat. Robinson fought off the pin for 20 seconds, but it was all in vain, as Chinn’s fall at 4:05 gave the Mountain Hawks a commanding 15-6 lead.
“Losing Mitch early on was a tough break for us emotionally,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “I credit our guys for battling back, especially Seth Ciasulli and Trevor Chinn, who were outstanding tonight.”
In the lowest scoring bout of the night, Sean Bilodeau scored a one-point escape early in the second period, and that was all he needed for the win at 157. Bilodeau held off Billy Haydt for the next two periods and escaped with a 2-0 decision after earning a riding time advantage. Bilodeau was on the verge of getting a stalling call against him, but put on a last-minute offensive surge to hold onto the slim advantage.
No. 14 Mike Galante scored three takedowns in the first period at 165 to open up a 6-2 lead after one period against Scott Hunter. After the two wrestlers traded escapes in the second and third periods, Galante secured the 9-4 victory with a takedown in the final 20 seconds. The decision extended Lehigh’s winning streak to five bouts after the default at 125.
That streak came to an end at 175, when No. 15 Alex Caruso suffered a sudden-victory defeat to Dave Woodall. In a back-and-forth bout, Caruso seized the 8-5 lead in the third period, before giving up an escape and a takedown to tie the score again. In the extra time, Caruso appeared to be headed to victory when he shot in and grabbed Woodall’s ankle, but the
No. 15 David Craig got Lehigh back on the winning track with a 6-0 decision over Justin Wieller at 184. The junior from
No. 20 Zach Rey helped Lehigh finish off the night on a positive note, earning a 9-5 decision at 285. Rey ended up in the first row of the seats in Leeman-Turner Arena after a takedown attempt by Kyle Frey in the first period. Unfazed, Rey scored the first takedown of the bout right after the restart, and took a 4-1 lead after one period and never trailed after that.
“What’s a little worrisome is that they out-fought us in some spots,” noted Santoro. “We will have to do a better job to keep fighting and keep up the intensity. We’re going to need to bounce back with two EIWA rivals coming in here tomorrow.”
The loss drops the Dragons to 5-12-1 on the dual season.
Lehigh returns to action Saturday afternoon when it completes a weekend of three duals in two days. The Mountain Hawks host Harvard at 1 p.m., followed by Brown at 3 p.m. In between duals on Saturday, Lehigh will be welcoming back its Olympic and National Champions in conjunction with the celebration of the 100th season of Lehigh wrestling. Tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting the Lehigh ticket office, located in Grace Hall.
Bonus points: Fans can watch a replay of Friday night’s match on Service Electric 2 Sportsm, Friday at 9:30 p.m. The video stream of the dual is also available on-demand anytime at Lehighsports.com. After not wrestling at Leeman-Turner Arena for two months, Lehigh will wrestle each of its last six duals at home… Dating back to the 1997-98 season, Lehigh is now a combined 30-1 in dual meets versus Drexel, Harvard and Brown…Lehigh has won all 15 meetings with the Dragons…When Seth Ciasulli and Trevor Chinn recorded back-to-back falls at 141 and 149, respectively, it marked the first time since Chinn and BIlodeau accomplished the feat against UNC Greensboro on Nov. 29.
Weight Match-up Result Score/Time 125 Michael Gomez (Drexel) default Mitch Berger (Lehigh) 0:58 133 Matt Fisk (Lehigh) dec. Frank Cimato (Drexel) 7-0 141 Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) fall Matt Dugan (Drexel) 1:34 149 Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) fall Robert Robinson (Drexel) 4:05 157 Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) dec. Billy Haydt (Drexel) 2-0 165 Mike Galante (Lehigh) dec. Scott Hunter (Drexel) 9-4 174 Dave Woodall (Drexel) dec. Alex Caruso (Lehigh) 10-8 s.v. 184 David Craig (Lehigh) dec. Justin Wieller (Drexel) 6-0 197 Jon Oplinger (Drexel) maj. dec. Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) 19-7 285 Zach Rey (Lehigh) dec., Kyle Frey (Drexel) 9-5
Attendance: 1,850
Referee: Jeff Cook
Photos © 2009, Specialty Photographic. Used with permission.
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