Lehigh University
EIWA Championships
Lehigh places three in finals; tied for 2nd at EIWAs
3/6/2010 6:30:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Senior Matt Fisk and sophomores Brandon Hatchett and Zach Rey advanced to the finals to lead Lehigh on an up-and-down day one of the 106th EIWA Championships Saturday at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks’ three finalists were the only Lehigh wrestlers to claim automatic berths on Saturday as Lehigh won its first six bouts of the day, but went just 5-5 in quarterfinal matches and had three wrestlers eliminated going 0-2 and earning zero team points. The Mountain Hawks are tied for second place with Penn with 92.5 points after one day of competition.
“Getting three guys into the finals was good, but there are some other things that were very disappointing,” explained Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “We’ve been training for this all year, but I thought we were a little bit timid.
Santoro continued, “There was a lack of intensity on our part in the quarters and consolations. We were waiting for guys to roll over. We didn’t show up in some matches and got beat. We didn’t have the guys ready mentally and we didn’t have that attacking mentality.”
Fisk led the way for Lehigh all day long, reaching his second EIWA finals with three consecutive bonus wins. The first Mountain Hawk to hit the mats on Saturday, the senior co-captain opened the day with a first-period pin of Harvard’s Fermin Mendez, then followed with a 9-0 major over American’s Thomas Williams in the quarters. In the semifinals, Fisk regained his pinning form, sticking upstart Andrew Grabfelter of Columbia in 4:28. Fisk will now meet Cornell’s Mike Grey in the finals at 133 on Sunday.
Hatchett reached the finals in his first EIWA tournament by avenging a sudden victory loss to Justin Kerber of Cornell during the regular season with a 2-1 win in the semifinals at 165. Hatchett rode Kerber for almost the entire second period, and the 1:48 riding time advantage proved to be the difference in the match. Earlier in the day Hatchett earned a major decision win over Princeton’s Andy Lowy and a 3-2 decision over Robby Neill. Hatchett will face Bucknell's Andy Rendos in the finals.
“Fisk and Hatchett both looked good,” said Santoro. “Fisk is getting his look back. He’s a senior and wants to end this thing the right way. Hatchett just continues gaining confidence every week.”
Lehigh’s only top seed, Rey earned a return trip to the finals with a 3-1 sudden victory win over Cornell’s Josh Arnone in the semifinals at heavyweight. Rey had a first round by and opened his day with a 3-1 win over Penn’s Tyler Blakely in the quarterfinals. He will now face rival Dominick Russo of Rutgers in the finals. Rey already owns two wins over Russo this season.
“Rey won but he let Arnone wrestle to his game plan,” Santoro said. “Zach can’t depend on just one shot he has to look to create opportunities to score.”
Also reaching the semifinals before losing were freshman Robert Hamlin at 174 and senior David Craig at 184. Hamlin won his first two bouts, including a 12-1 major over Army’s Ryan Mergen in the quarterfinals, but despite a valiant effort, could not overtake top-ranked and undefeated Mack Lewnes of Cornell who won the semifinal bout 5-3.
Craig pinned Cary Aldrich of Columbia in the opening round and won an 8-2 decision over Bucknell’s Rob Waltko in the quarters, but could not overcome the No. 2 seed Louis Caputo in the semifinals. Caputo scored the only takedown of the match in sudden victory to win 3-1.
The other two Mountain Hawks who remain alive, senior Seth Ciasulli and sophomore Joe Kennedy are on a long road back after winning two consolation bouts each after quarterfinal losses. Ciasulli was upended in the quarterfinals at 141 by No. 7 seed Jordan Lipp of American, who went on to advance all the way to the finals, 4-2 in the second sudden-victory period. Despite being upset, Ciasulli did produce bonus points in his other three bouts with two falls and a major decision.
Kennedy won by technical fall over Chas Fox of Princeton in the opening round at 197, but was beaten 10-7 by No. 5 seed Dan Mitchell of American. A five point move early in the third period when Mitchell took Kennedy down to his back proved to be the difference in the bout. Kennedy remained alive with a pair of wins by decisions in the consolations.
The tournament and most likely the season ended rather abruptly for sophomores John McDonald and Sean Bilodeau and freshman Joey Napoli. McDonald dropped a major decision to Aaron Kalil of Navy in the quarterfinals at 125. He built an early lead in his consolation against Brown’s Greg Einfrank before Einfrank stunned McDonald with a second-period pin.
Bilodeau kept the score low in a 3-0 loss to Bryce Saddoris of Navy in the quarters at 157, but then was caught in a bad position and eliminated from the tournament when Matt Dunn of Columbia pinned him in 2:07.
Napoli gave up a first period takedown to Glenn Shober of Navy at 149 and that proved to be the difference in a 4-2 win for the Midshipman. In the consolations, Napoli was pinned by Columbia’s Steve Santos in the third period.
In the team race Cornell appears to be on its way to a fourth straight team title with 124 points and five finalists. Lehigh and Penn are next with 92.5 points. The Mountain Hawks have three finalists while the Quakers have two. Bucknell is fourth with 81.5 points while American rounds out the top five with 75.
“We need to regroup tomorrow,” Santoro concluded. “The guys who are alive know what they have to do. I can’t make them do it. That first match will be huge for all of them.”
The 106th EIWA Championships conclude Sunday at Stabler Arena. Ciasulli, Hamlin, Craig and Kennedy will all compete in session three, which begins at 10 a.m. and features consolation semifinals and placement matches. The finals are set for 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Stabler Arena on Sunday.
Preliminaries
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Fermin Mendez (Harvard) |
1:16 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Luis Ramos (Princeton) |
1:23 |
|
165 |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Andy Lowy (Princeton) |
15-3 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Phillip Barreiro (American) |
9-4 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Cary Aldrich (Columbia) |
5:53 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
tech. fall |
Chas Fox (Princeton) |
18-0, 6:28 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quarterfinals
|
125 |
Aaron Kalil (Navy) |
maj. dec. |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
14-2 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Thomas Williams (AU) |
9-0 |
|
141 |
Jordan Lipp (American) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
4-2 s.v. 2 |
|
149 |
Glenn Shober (Navy) |
dec. |
Joey Napoli (Lehigh) |
4-2 |
|
157 |
Bryce Saddors (Navy) |
dec. |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
3-0 |
|
165 |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Robby Neill (Navy) |
3-2 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Ryan Mergen (Army) |
9-4 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Rob Waltko (Bucknell) |
8-2 |
|
197 |
Dan Mitchell (American) |
dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
10-7 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Tyler Blakely (Penn) |
3-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Second round consolations
|
125 |
Greg Einfrank (Brown) |
Fall |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
4:02 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Matt Murray (F&M) |
0:49 |
|
149 |
Steve Santos (Columbia) |
Fall |
Joey Napoli (Lehigh) |
5:51 |
|
157 |
Matt Dunn (Columbia) |
Fall |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
2:07 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jay Hahn (Bucknell) |
5-4 |
Third round consolations
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
John Regan (Bucknell) |
9-0 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Lou Miller (Columbia) |
3-2 |
Semifinals
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Andrew Grabfelter (Col.) |
4:28 |
|
165 |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Justin Kerber (Cornell) |
2-1 |
|
174 |
Mack Lewnes (Cornell) |
dec. |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
5-3 |
|
184 |
Louis Caputo (Harvard) |
dec. |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
3-1 s.v. |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Josh Arnone (Cornell) |
3-1 s.v. |
Team Standings
|
Team |
Points |
|
1. Cornell |
124 |
|
2. LEHIGH |
92.5 |
|
2. Penn |
92.5 |
|
4. Bucknell |
81.5 |
|
5. American |
75 |
|
6. Navy |
73.5 |
|
7. Rutgers |
72 |
|
8. Columbia |
58.5 |
|
9. Army |
54.5 |
|
10. Brown |
43.5 |
|
11. Harvard |
42.5 |
|
12. Princeton |
23 |
|
13. F&M |
2 |
EIWA Day One Post-Match Extra
