Lehigh University
EIWA Championships
Six Mountain Hawks advance to EIWA semifinals
3/7/2009 3:45:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
PHILADELPHIA – Lehigh sits in third place after day one of the 105th EIWA Championships after the Mountain Hawks advanced six wrestlers into the semifinals during Saturday’s opening session at the Palestra. Junior David Craig, the No. 1 seed at 184, led the way for the Brown and White with a pair of first period pins to move into Sunday morning’s semifinals. Craig will be joined in the semifinals by senior Trevor Chinn, juniors Matt Fisk, Seth Ciasulli and Mike Galante and freshman Zach Rey.
“We were looking to for six to eight guys to make it into the semifinals, but it just didn’t happen that way,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “Right now we’re just trying to get as many guys to nationals as possible.”
Craig had little trouble with his first two opponents on Saturday, securing a quick takedown before turning Army’s John Drew for the fall in his first match and scoring another quick score before slapping on a near side cradle to pin No. 8 seed Kurt Brenner in the quarterfinals. Craig will next meet No. 4 seed Casey Caldwell of Navy.
The first Mountain Hawk to hit the mats was Fisk who earned a 4-0 decision over East Stroudsburg in the opening round at 133, before posting a 10-2 major decision over American’s Jasen Borshoff. Fisk will meet No. 2 seed Mike Grey of Cornell in his semifinal match.
At 141, Ciasulli delivered the first bonus points of the day for Lehigh with a second period pin of Bucknell’s Adam Healey, his second win by fall over Healey this season and his eighth pin overall. Ciasulli also downed William Simpson of Army 9-3 and the No. 2 seed will next face third seed Rick Rappo from Penn.
Chinn will be making his third EIWA semifinal appearance on Sunday. The senior co-captain opened the day with a 12-3 major decision over Al Gianforti of Franklin & Marshall and later posted an 8-3 win over Bucknell’s Kevin LeValley. By advancing to the semifinals, Chinn has guaranteed himself a spot in the top six at 149 and with that became the first and only Mountain Hawk on Saturday to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Chinn, the No. 3 seed, will face second seed Bryce Saddoris of Navy on Sunday morning.
At 165 Galante needed just one match to move on, as he followed up his first round bye with a 6-4 win over Eren Civan of Columbia. Next up for Galante is a matchup with No. 2 seed Andy Rendos of Bucknell.
Lehigh’s sixth and final semifinalist, Zach Rey converted a first period takedown in his match with Cornell’s Zach Hammond. The takedown, plus an escape and riding time was good enough for a 4-1 win. Rey will face Penn’s Trey McLean in the semifinals.
Rey’s win also prevented two-time defending champions Cornell from placing eight in the semifinals. The Big Red have built a 15.5 point lead after day one and have seven wrestlers in the semifinals, as well as three others still alive in consolations. Lehigh has 46 points, two fewer than second-place Penn. Both teams have six wrestlers in the semifinals and two others in the consolations.
At 125, freshman John McDonald had a tough opening task in top seed Troy Nickerson of Cornell. McDonald nearly converted a quick shot into an early takedown, but it was Nickerson who scored first and eventually pinned the eighth-seeded Mountain Hawk in 2:14. McDonald rebounded in the consolations with a 10-5 over Matt Fusco of Rutgers. He can earn a spot in the top six with a win over Thomas Williams of American on Sunday.
Like McDonald, sophomore Alex Caruso overcame a quarterfinal loss to win in the consolation round and advance to Sunday. Caruso, the No. 5 seed at 174, won his first match but lost in the quarterfinals to Luke Rebertus of Navy 8-2. He bounced back with a 5-2 win over Bran Crudden of Brown in the consolations and will next face Mike Whalen of Rutgers with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Two Lehigh wrestlers were eliminated on day one. Freshman Sean Bilodeau dropped his opening round match to Scott Winston of Rutgers at 157 and built an 11-7 lead in his consolation match with Bucknell’s Scott Sechler. A big move attempt by Bilodeau backfired however and Sechler brought Bilodeau down to his back before securing the fall in near the end of the second period.
At 197 freshman Joe Kennedy was pinned in the first period of his opening round match with Thomas Shovlin of Penn. Kennedy, who injured his shoulder in practice last week forfeited his consolation match.
The 105th EIWA Championships will continue Sunday at 10:30 a.m. with the semifinals and consolation rounds. The finals are set for Sunday at 6:30 p.m. with audio coverage on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as Lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports College Broadcast.
First Round
|
Weight |
Matchup |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Matt Swallow (ESU) |
4-0 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Adam Healey (Bucknell) |
4:31 |
|
149 |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Al Gianforti (F&M) |
12-3 |
|
157 |
Scott Winston (Rutgers) |
dec. |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
10-6 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Andy Olsen (Harvard) |
8-2 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
Fall |
John Drew (Army) |
1:28 |
Quarterfinals
|
125 |
Troy Nickerson (Cornell) |
Fall |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
2:14 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Jasen Borshoff (American) |
10-2 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
William Simpson (Army) |
9-3 |
|
149 |
Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Kevin LeValley (Bucknell) |
8-3 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Eren Civan (Columbia) |
6-4 |
|
174 |
Luke Rebertus (Navy) |
dec. |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
8-2 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Kurt Brendel (Princeton |
1:38 |
|
197 |
Thomas Shovlin (Penn) |
Fall |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
1:09 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Zach Hammond (Cornell) |
4-1 |
First Round Consolations
|
157 |
Scott Sechler (Bucknell) |
Fall |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
4:56 |
Second Round Consolations
|
125 |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Matt Fusco (Rutgers) |
10-5 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Bran Crudden (Brown) |
5-2 |
Team Scores after day one
|
Team |
Points |
|
1. Cornell |
63.5 |
|
2. Penn |
48 |
|
3. Lehigh |
46 |
|
4. Navy |
41.5 |
|
5. Bucknell |
36.5 |
|
6. American |
36 |
|
7. Harvard |
27 |
|
8. Rutgers |
25.5 |
|
9. Army |
25 |
|
10. Columbia |
13.5 |
|
11. ESU |
10 |
|
12. F&M |
8.5 |
|
13. Brown |
7.5 |
|
14. Princeton |
3 |
Watch the Lehigh Post-Match Extra
