Lehigh University
Army
No. 7 Lehigh moves to 22-1 with two EIWA wins
2/14/2009 4:15:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – No. 7 Lehigh moved to 22-1 on the dual season with a pair of victories Saturday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena. The Mountain Hawks opened the day by winning seven of ten matches in a 27-12 win over Army then wrapped up the afternoon with a 29-18 win over Franklin & Marshall. With the wins Lehigh improves to 8-0 against EIWA foes this season and matches the school record for dual wins in a season, set by the 2004-05 team.
“We had an opportunity to get some extra matches for some guys who have been training hard in the room all year long,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “It didn’t work out as our guys didn’t execute in some of those matches, but overall I thought our starters did a pretty good job.”
The day’s first dual began with some concern for the Brown and White as freshman John McDonald suffered a knee injury in the first period of his match with Lance Penhale and had to default.
Facing an early 6-0 deficit, junior co-captain Matt Fisk pulled the Mountain Hawks level with a second-period pin of Connor McCarthy at 133. Junior Seth Ciasulli then gave Lehigh the lead with a 4-2 win over Casey Thome at 141.
The featured bout of the Army dual pitted Lehigh’s 14th ranked senior Trevor Chinn against the Black Knights’ tenth ranked junior Matt Kyler at 149. Tied at one late in the third period, Kyler scored a takedown at the edge of the mat in the final ten seconds to win 3-1 and tie the dual at nine.
The Mountain Hawks rallied behind freshman Sean Bilodeau, who started a run of four straight Lehigh wins with his first of two bonus wins on the day. Bilodeau racked up one takedown in each period, the final one late in the third, to clinch an 8-0 major decision over Rudy Chelednik and give Lehigh a 13-9 lead at intermission.
“Sean did a nice job coming back after a rough outing last week,” said Santoro. “He picked up two great wins and was able to work some things out. I think Seth Ciasulli also did a great job against a really tough opponent from Army. He really went out and controlled his match.”
Bilodeau’s major decision was followed by a win by major from junior Mike Galante, who dominated Mike Gorman, with an early five point move on a cement job and a total of eight takedowns in a 20-7 win.
After a win by decision from Alex Caruso at 174, junior David Craig added the fourth and final bonus win of the dual, dominating John Drew in a 14-2 major decision.
Army won its last bout as Richard Starks edged freshman Joe Kennedy 4-1 in a tiebreaker at 197. Freshman Zach Rey added a win by decision to close out Lehigh’s first win of the day. Army falls to 10-5-2, 4-2-1 in the EIWA with the loss.
The second match of the day offered Lehigh an opportunity to wrestle some of its backups against a Diplomat squad that was winless in EIWA duals.
After a forfeit to McDonald at 125, Lehigh sent out sophomore Mike Margherita for his varsity debut at 133, but in a high-scoring back-and-forth affair, Margherita fell to Matt Murray 13-10 as Franklin & Marshall got on the scoreboard.
Lehigh took control of the dual with three straight bonus wins: pins from Ciasulli and Bilodeau sandwiched around a major decision by Chinn over Al Gianforti at 149, to lead 22-3 at the break.
In the second half of the dual, freshman Brandon Hatchett subbed for Galante at 165 but dropped a close decision to Anthony Bongarzone. The next match pitted Caruso against the Diplomats top grappler, Justin Herbert. In a surprising turn of events, Herbert took Caruso down to his back with a headlock and pinned the Mountain Hawk in just 1:09 to pull F&M within ten at 22-12.
To silence the Diplomats momentum, Lehigh sent out Craig at 184, and the junior held off Jimmy Schulz 5-0, despite not being totally warmed up to wrestle.
Senior Jamie O’Dowd made his varsity debut at 197 for Lehigh, scoring two early takedowns versus Colin Ely, but Ely rallied to tie the match and was able to turn and pin O’Dowd with 13 seconds remaining in the opening period.
The final bout of the day went to Zach Rey, who earned a 12-4 major decision over Nico Somers at heavyweight.
With the loss, Franklin & Marshall falls to 5-11, 0-7 in the EIWA.
The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Sunday, February 22 when they host the Penn Quakers in the regular season finale at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. First match is set for just after 1 p.m. and tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting the Lehigh ticket office located in Grace Hall.
Lehigh 27 Army 12
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
125 |
Lance Penhale (Army) |
Inj. Def. |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
2:38 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Connor McCarthy (Army) |
3:59 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Casey Thome (Army) |
4-2 |
|
149 |
Matt Kyler (Army) |
dec. |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
3-1 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Rudy Chelednik (Army) |
8-0 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Mike Gorman (Army) |
20-7 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jake Vetter (Army) |
8-3 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
John Drew (Army) |
14-2 |
|
197 |
Richard Starks (Army) |
dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
4-1, t.b. |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Michael Sprigg (Army) |
3-1 |
Referee: Gary Kessel
Lehigh 29 Franklin & Marshall 18
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
125 |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
W |
Forfeit |
|
|
133 |
Matt Murray (F&M) |
dec. |
Mike Margherita (Lehigh) |
13-10 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Frank Higgins (F&M) |
1:47 |
|
149 |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Al Gianforti (F&M) |
13-2 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Matt Gittleman (F&M) |
2:32 |
|
165 |
Anthony Bongarzone (F&M) |
dec. |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
3-2 |
|
174 |
Justin Herbert (F&M) |
Fall |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
1:09 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jimmy Schulz (F&M) |
5-0 |
|
197 |
Colin Ely (F&M) |
Fall |
Jamie O’Dowd (F&M) |
2:47 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Nico Somers (F&M) |
12-4 |
Referee: Gary Kessel
Attendance: 1,507
Watch the Lehigh - Army/Franklin & Marshall Post-Match Show
