Lehigh University
No. 24 Kent State
Lehigh moves into semifinals at Virginia Duals
1/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
 |
HAMPTON, Va. – No. 8 Lehigh moved into the semifinal round at the Virginia Duals with an exciting 21-15 victory over No. 24 Kent State Friday afternoon at the Hampton Coliseum. Junior Mike Galante pinned Obie Simpson in 49 seconds to break a 9-9 tie after five bouts and freshman Joe Kennedy clinched the win for the top seeded Mountain Hawks with a 3-1 sudden victory win over Eric Chine at 197. The win improves the top seeded Mountain Hawks to 14-0 on the dual season, and Lehigh will next face fourth seed and No. 15 ranked Edinboro in Saturday’s semifinals.
“We knew coming in that they (Kent State) would be favored at the first three weights and the last three weights,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “The middle four were key for us, and we were able to get them, plus we were able to get one win out of the first three and one out of the final three.”
Lehigh dug itself an early 6-0 hole as sophomore Mitch Berger was pinned by nationally-ranked Nic Bedelyon at 125. The first Mountain Hawk to come through with an upset was junior Matt Fisk, who bested 11th-ranked Dan Mitcheff at 133. After a scoreless first period, Fisk rode out the second to gain a riding time advantage and added a third period escape, while Mitcheff’s sole point was a penalty point against Fisk for stalling.
The Golden Flashes extended their lead to 9-3 as Drew Lashaway won a 7-4 decision at 141, but back-to-back decisions from senior Trevor Chinn and Sean Bilodeau propelled a four match Lehigh run and allowed the Brown and White to even things at nine at the halfway point of the dual.
At 165, Galante netted his second win by fall of the day, as he used a cement mixer to put Simpson on his back before securing his third pin of the season in just 49 seconds.
“Galante really gave us a huge momentum boost,” said Santoro of his 16th ranked 165-pound grappler. “He got us bonus points and gave us some energy heading into the second half of the dual.”
Sophomore Alex Caruso extended the Lehigh lead to 18-9 with an 11-7 decision over Chris Estep at 174. The Mountain Hawks needed just one win to essentially seal the dual meet win, but things would not come easy. At 184, junior David Craig scored the opening takedown, but fifth ranked Dustin Kilgore reversed him, and added takedowns in each of the final two periods in an 8-4 win.
The lone true freshman in the Lehigh lineup, Kennedy once again came through in the clutch, clinching the dual with his sudden victory win over Chine at 197. After battling through nearly eight minutes with just an escape to each side, Kennedy converted a shot in the final ten seconds to secure the winning takedown.
“Going into the final two bouts we knew we were going to have to depend on a freshman to get things done,” said Santoro. “As a true freshman Joe has been great for us all year and he came through when we needed it. He just keeps getting better every week.”
In the final bout of the dual, freshman Zach Rey pushed fifth-ranked Jermail Porter to the limit, before falling 4-2 in the second sudden victory period.
Earlier in the day, Lehigh won eight bouts including three falls in a 34-8 win over Ohio.
The Mountain Hawks will next face Edinboro at 2 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals. The Fighting Scots rolled to wins over Rider and Penn on Friday. Lehigh will wrestle a second dual on Saturday, either for the championship or for third place at 8:30 p.m. All of Lehigh’s Virginia Duals action can be heard online at Lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports College Broadcast.
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Results |
|
Score/Time |
|
125 |
Nic Bedelyon (KSU) |
Fall |
Mitch Berger (Lehigh) |
5:15 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Dan Mitcheff (KSU) |
2-1 |
|
141 |
Drew Lashaway (KSU) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
7-4 |
|
149 |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Clint Sponseller (KSU) |
4-1 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Ross Tice (KSU) |
9-5 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Obie Simpson (KSU) |
0:49 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Chris Estep (KSU) |
11-7 |
|
184 |
Dustin Kilgore (KSU) |
dec. |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
8-4 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Eric Chine (KSU) |
3-1, s.v. |
|
285 |
Jermail Porter (KSU) |
dec. |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
4-2, s.v. 2 |
