Sunday, January 25
3:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
9
vs
21
Cornell
No. 11 Lehigh drops 21-9 decision to No. 6 Cornell in sold out Grace Hall
1/25/2015 6:07:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In a dual that saw no bonus points scored and six matches decided by three points or less, No. 6 Cornell posted a 21-9 win over No. 11 Lehigh Sunday in front of 1,951 fans in a sold-out Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks led 6-3 after three bouts before the visiting Big Red reeled off six straight wins to take control of the dual, including a pair of overtime victories in bouts between ranked wrestlers.
The loss is Lehigh's first this season against an EIWA opponent as the Mountain Hawks fall to 10-4 overall. Cornell, the eight time defending EIWA champions, improves to 10-1.
"It was a good dual meet for fans," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "Both teams fought hard. There were three or four matches that could have gone our way but didn't. That what we have to fix before March. I'm proud of the way we wrestled. We went out and wrestled every minute of every match so I'm proud of that."
The momentum of the dual swung at 157 as Cornell's Brian Realbuto used a cradle for a five-point move to rally for an 11-8 decision over sophomore Mitch Minotti to take a 9-6 lead at intermission. Minotti struck first, hitting a cement mixer for an early 4-0 lead before conceding a reversal. He led 8-6 late in the third period when he took a single leg shot but was countered into a cradle with the three near fall points being the difference for Realbuto.
"It was match, but to give up a five point move in the last 30 seconds is tough," Santoro said. "Mitch fights. He'll be back. Realbuto is the kind of guy you want to wrestle one time. He's a little freaky in certain positions with freaky strength and freaky flexibility. Mitch got to feel it. Unfortunately it didn't come out his way, but we need to turn that around."
Cornell struck first at 125 as third-ranked Nahshon Garrett defeated freshman Scott Parker 9-5 in a match where Parker trailed by just one late before Garrett nabbed an insurance takedown. Lehigh then stormed in front behind decisions from junior Mason Beckman at 133 and Randy Cruz at 141.
Beckman bounced back after conceding the first takedown to Bricker Dixon with takedowns in the second and third periods plus a three point near fall to win 9-4. After being held out of Saturday's dual with Franklin & Marshall, Cruz used a second period reversal and a 2:18 riding time to defeat Logan David 3-0.
The Big Red pulled even at 6-6 as Chris Villalonga won a 9-5 decision over freshman Drew Longo at 149.
In the second half of the dual, Cornell opened up a 15-6 lead as Dylan Palacio earned a 9-3 decision over senior Marshall Peppelman at 165 and Duke Pickett stopped the recent winning ways of senior Santiago Martinez with a 5-4 win at 174.
The featured bout of the dual matched Lehigh's third-ranked junior Nathaniel Brown against Cornell's top-ranked Gabe Dean at 184. The match was tied 1-1 through regulation with Brown escaping in the second and Dean in the third. In the sudden victory period Dean created a scramble on the edge of the mat in front of the Lehigh bench. The officials originally ruled no control but after a challenge by Cornell the call was reversed by video review with Dean given control for a takedown and a 3-1 victory.
At 197 11th-ranked sophomore Elliot Riddick was locked in a low-scoring, overtime affair with No. 14 Jace Bennett of Cornell. Bennett earned a third period escape, while Riddick's 1:03 riding time advantage sent the match into sudden victory. Riddick nearly scrambled into a takedown at the end of sudden victory but no points were awarded and the call on the mat stood following a video review. In the tiebreakers, Bennett escaped and then rode out Riddick to cap the Big Red run with a 2-1 decision.
In the final bout of the dual sophomore heavyweight Doug Vollaro overcame a 2-1 second period deficit with a third period takedown, then converted a single leg shot with 21 seconds left in sudden victory to win 5-3.
"Cornell was the better team today," Santoro said. "We have to fix that by March. We have a great group of guys. I believe in these guys. We have to work our tails off so we're going to continue to get better."
The Mountain Hawks will be off next weekend and will return to action on Sunday February 8 when they host Harvard and Brown at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall beginning at noon. Tickets can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
No. 6 Cornell 21, No. 11 Lehigh 9
125 – Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. Scott Parker (Lehigh) 9-5
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec. Bricker Dixon (Cornell) 9-4
141 – Randy Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Logan David (Cornell) 3-0
149 – Chris Villalonga (Cornell) dec. Drew Longo (Lehigh) 9-5
157 – Brian Realbuto (Cornell) dec. Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) 11-8
165 – Dylan Palacio (Cornell) dec. Marshall Peppelman (Lehigh) 9-3
174 – Duke Pickett (Cornell) dec. Santiago Martinez (Lehigh) 5-4
184 – Gabe Dean (Cornell) dec. Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) 3-1, s.v.
197 – Jace Bennett (Cornell) dec. Elliot Riddick (Lehigh) 2-1, t.b.
285 – Doug Vollaro (Lehigh) dec. Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell) 5-3, s.v.
Attendance – 1,951
Referee – Nathan Chatman
The loss is Lehigh's first this season against an EIWA opponent as the Mountain Hawks fall to 10-4 overall. Cornell, the eight time defending EIWA champions, improves to 10-1.
"It was a good dual meet for fans," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "Both teams fought hard. There were three or four matches that could have gone our way but didn't. That what we have to fix before March. I'm proud of the way we wrestled. We went out and wrestled every minute of every match so I'm proud of that."
The momentum of the dual swung at 157 as Cornell's Brian Realbuto used a cradle for a five-point move to rally for an 11-8 decision over sophomore Mitch Minotti to take a 9-6 lead at intermission. Minotti struck first, hitting a cement mixer for an early 4-0 lead before conceding a reversal. He led 8-6 late in the third period when he took a single leg shot but was countered into a cradle with the three near fall points being the difference for Realbuto.
"It was match, but to give up a five point move in the last 30 seconds is tough," Santoro said. "Mitch fights. He'll be back. Realbuto is the kind of guy you want to wrestle one time. He's a little freaky in certain positions with freaky strength and freaky flexibility. Mitch got to feel it. Unfortunately it didn't come out his way, but we need to turn that around."
Cornell struck first at 125 as third-ranked Nahshon Garrett defeated freshman Scott Parker 9-5 in a match where Parker trailed by just one late before Garrett nabbed an insurance takedown. Lehigh then stormed in front behind decisions from junior Mason Beckman at 133 and Randy Cruz at 141.
Beckman bounced back after conceding the first takedown to Bricker Dixon with takedowns in the second and third periods plus a three point near fall to win 9-4. After being held out of Saturday's dual with Franklin & Marshall, Cruz used a second period reversal and a 2:18 riding time to defeat Logan David 3-0.
The Big Red pulled even at 6-6 as Chris Villalonga won a 9-5 decision over freshman Drew Longo at 149.
In the second half of the dual, Cornell opened up a 15-6 lead as Dylan Palacio earned a 9-3 decision over senior Marshall Peppelman at 165 and Duke Pickett stopped the recent winning ways of senior Santiago Martinez with a 5-4 win at 174.
The featured bout of the dual matched Lehigh's third-ranked junior Nathaniel Brown against Cornell's top-ranked Gabe Dean at 184. The match was tied 1-1 through regulation with Brown escaping in the second and Dean in the third. In the sudden victory period Dean created a scramble on the edge of the mat in front of the Lehigh bench. The officials originally ruled no control but after a challenge by Cornell the call was reversed by video review with Dean given control for a takedown and a 3-1 victory.
At 197 11th-ranked sophomore Elliot Riddick was locked in a low-scoring, overtime affair with No. 14 Jace Bennett of Cornell. Bennett earned a third period escape, while Riddick's 1:03 riding time advantage sent the match into sudden victory. Riddick nearly scrambled into a takedown at the end of sudden victory but no points were awarded and the call on the mat stood following a video review. In the tiebreakers, Bennett escaped and then rode out Riddick to cap the Big Red run with a 2-1 decision.
In the final bout of the dual sophomore heavyweight Doug Vollaro overcame a 2-1 second period deficit with a third period takedown, then converted a single leg shot with 21 seconds left in sudden victory to win 5-3.
"Cornell was the better team today," Santoro said. "We have to fix that by March. We have a great group of guys. I believe in these guys. We have to work our tails off so we're going to continue to get better."
The Mountain Hawks will be off next weekend and will return to action on Sunday February 8 when they host Harvard and Brown at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall beginning at noon. Tickets can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
No. 6 Cornell 21, No. 11 Lehigh 9
125 – Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. Scott Parker (Lehigh) 9-5
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec. Bricker Dixon (Cornell) 9-4
141 – Randy Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Logan David (Cornell) 3-0
149 – Chris Villalonga (Cornell) dec. Drew Longo (Lehigh) 9-5
157 – Brian Realbuto (Cornell) dec. Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) 11-8
165 – Dylan Palacio (Cornell) dec. Marshall Peppelman (Lehigh) 9-3
174 – Duke Pickett (Cornell) dec. Santiago Martinez (Lehigh) 5-4
184 – Gabe Dean (Cornell) dec. Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) 3-1, s.v.
197 – Jace Bennett (Cornell) dec. Elliot Riddick (Lehigh) 2-1, t.b.
285 – Doug Vollaro (Lehigh) dec. Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell) 5-3, s.v.
Attendance – 1,951
Referee – Nathan Chatman
Players Mentioned
133
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
165/174
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's WrestlingLehigh Sports Central: Wrestling
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