Mountain Hawks to host No. 22 Rutgers, visit Penn
2/17/2010 2:30:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The final weekend of the dual meet season brings two tough conference duals for the seventh-ranked Mountain Hawks. Lehigh will host one of the nation’s hottest teams, No. 22 Rutgers, Saturday at Stabler Arena in the make-up of the February 6 dual that was postponed because of snow. On Sunday, Lehigh will wrap-up the dual season against Penn at the famed Palestra. The Mountain Hawks are 8-1-1 since January 1 and are coming off a pair of convincing wins over Brown and Harvard on the road last weekend. Lehigh will look to end the dual season on a strong note and improve its individual seeding for the upcoming EIWA Championships.
The NWCA released its second set of Coaches Panel rankings on Friday, February 12. The Mountain Hawks have eight men ranked in the top-33 of those rankings, which play a role in determining automatic qualifier spots for the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Zach Rey is the highest rated Mountain Hawk, coming in at No. 6 at 285. Lehigh has seven men ranked by InterMat and Amateur Wrestling News and five men ranked by W.I.N. Magazine.
Rutgers brings one of its strongest teams in recent memory into Stabler Arena. The Scarlet Knights are 18-4-1 in duals and are currently riding a school-record 14-dual unbeaten streak. Last weekend Rutgers defeated Liberty and American on the road with the two victories moving the Scarlet Knights up one spot to No. 22 in the latest rankings. Rutgers has eight wrestlers in the latest NWCA Coaches Panel rankings, led by heavyweight Dominick Russo, who comes in at No. 10. In the latest AWN rankings only Russo and Darryl Cocozzo (No. 20 at 157) are ranked in the top 20.
Lehigh and Rutgers wrestlers crossed paths at the Midlands with Zach Rey defeating Russo 7-2 in the quarterfinals, and Rutgers’ Trevor Melde upsetting Seth Ciasulli in the Round of 16. The Scarlet Knights will have several familiar faces on their bench as John Leonardis (Lehigh ‘97) and Cory Cooperman (Lehigh ‘06) serve on the staff of third-year head coach Scott Goodale. Rutgers will face Drexel on Thursday before visiting Lehigh on Saturday.
Penn enters the final weekend of the regular season at 9-5 overall and 3-1 within the EIWA. The Quakers split a pair of home duals last weekend, losing 31-3 to Cornell on Saturday before rallying to knock off Columbia 22-13 on Sunday. Penn will travel to Princeton on Saturday before hosting the Mountain Hawks on Sunday. The Quakers have won five of their last six duals. Rob Eiter is in his second season as head coach of the Quakers and currently has seven men ranked in the NWCA Coaches Panel rankings, led by senior Cesar Grajales, who is ranked 11th at 149. Penn has three men ranked in the top 20 by Amateur Wrestling News: Grajales (No. 18 at 149), junior Scott Giffin (No. 12 at 174) and freshman Micah Burak (No. 20 at 197).
Among probable starters from both Penn and Lehigh only the match between Matt Fisk and Bryan Ortenzio at 133 and one between Sean Bilodeau and Matt Dragon at 157 would be rematches from last year. Dragon did not compete for Penn in the two meets last weekend.
The Mountain Hawks have dominated the all-time series versus Rutgers winning 38 of 39 meetings including 35 in a row against the Scarlet Knights. The Lehigh-Penn series dates back to 1912, with the Mountain Hawks having won 37 of the 48 previous meetings. Lehigh and Penn have met in each of the last 13 seasons after not having wrestled between 1956 and 1996. The Mountain Hawks are unbeaten in their last 13 EIWA duals, and are 52-5-1 against EIWA foes since the start of the 2002-03 season. Penn is the only EIWA team to beat Lehigh twice during that span.
Action gets underway at Saturday at 1 p.m. with the Lehigh-Rutgers dual at Stabler Arena. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting the arena box office on Saturday. Sunday’s Lehigh-Penn dual is slated from a 1 p.m. start from the Palestra. The match can also be heard on WLVR-FM (91.3) as well as Lehighsports.com.
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Date: |
February 20, 2010 |
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Opponent: |
No. 22 Rutgers Scarlet Knights |
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First match: |
1:05 p.m. |
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Arena: |
Stabler Arena (5,600) |
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Location: |
Bethlehem, Pa. |
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Lehigh’s record: |
14-3-1 overall, 3-0-1 EIWA |
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Rutgers’ record: |
18-5-1 overall, 6-1 EIWA |
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Series: |
Lehigh leads 38-1 |
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Streak: |
Lehigh has won the last 35 duals |
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Television: |
Service Electric 2 Sports live with Doug Heater and Kyle Berger |
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Radio: |
WLVR-FM (91.3) with Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell beginning at 12:45 |
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Internet broadcast: |
Live video at Lehighsports.com |
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Behind enemy lines: |
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Date: |
February 21, 2010 |
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Opponent: |
Penn Quakers |
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First match: |
1:00 p.m. |
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Arena: |
The Palestra (8,700) |
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Location: |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
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Lehigh’s record: |
14-3-1 overall, 3-0-1 EIWA |
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Penn’s record: |
9-5 overall, 3-1 |
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Series: |
Lehigh leads 37-9-2 |
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Streak: |
Lehigh won last year’s meeting |
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Television: |
None |
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Radio: |
WLVR-FM (91.3) with Steve Lomangino beginning at 12:45 |
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Internet broadcast: |
Live audio at Lehighsports.com |
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Behind enemy lines: |
Lehigh Wrestling - Rutgers and Penn preview
