Lehigh unveils 2016-17 wrestling schedule
9/14/2016 3:02:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Highlighted by a minimum of eight home dates and five duals against teams that finished in the top 11 at last year's NCAA Championships, Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro announced the Mountain Hawks' 2016-17 schedule on Wednesday. The Mountain Hawks' home schedule includes visits from EIWA rival Cornell and NCAA fourth place finisher Virginia Tech.
The Mountain Hawks will compete in two in-season tournaments with a return to the Southern Scuffle in early January. Lehigh will also compete in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, formerly the Northeast Duals, which will feature a tournament format for the first time.
"There are a lot of new teams on our schedule," said Santoro, who begins his ninth season. "It will be exciting for our fans to see some high caliber wrestling and some different teams along the way. We always want to give our guys the most competitive schedule that we can find and we're going to expect them to compete at the highest level with those teams."
Fans will enjoy their first look at the 2016-17 Lehigh wrestling team with the annual Brown and White Wrestle-offs, set for Thursday October 27 inside Leeman-Turner Arena.
While most of the Lehigh squad will open up at the November 6 East Stroudsburg Open, the Mountain Hawks will open their dual meet schedule against EIWA rival Bucknell on Friday, November 11.
Two days later, Lehigh will head to Troy, N.Y. for the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Instead of wrestling two or three duals like in previous years, the Journeymen College Classic will be more of a round-robin tournament style, with different pools, no team scoring, and opportunities for up to 15 entries to wrestle three or four matches in one day.
Lehigh will head to western Pennsylvania the following weekend to face Pitt on Friday November 18 and Edinboro the following afternoon.
After taking Thanksgiving weekend off, Lehigh will return to action with a visit to defending national champion Penn State for the 105th meeting between the longtime rivals. Penn State will host this year's rivalry dual at the nearly 16,000-seat Bryce Jordan Center instead of Rec Hall as the Nittany Lions' annual signature home dual.
"We're excited that Penn State selected us to wrestle in the Bryce Jordan Center," Santoro said. "It's going to be a great experience and an opportunity to wrestle in front of a huge crowd."
The Mountain Hawks will return to Leeman-Turner Arena to close out the fall semester with a pair of EIWA duals. Coach Chris Ayres '99 brings his Princeton Tigers in on Friday December 9, while the Drexel Dragons will visit on Sunday December 11.
To kick off 2017, Lehigh will once again ring in the New Year in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Southern Scuffle. The Mountain Hawks finished third at last year's Scuffle and will be making their third consecutive appearance in the January 1-2 event.
Lehigh's next four duals will be against EIWA opposition beginning with road contests at Navy (January 13) and American (January 14). The following weekend Lehigh returns to Leeman-Turner Arena to face two longtime EIWA rivals. The Penn Quakers will visit on Friday January 20 before the 10-time defending EIWA Champion Cornell Big Red visit on Saturday January 21. Lehigh snapped a four-dual losing streak to Cornell with a 25-13 win over the Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y. last season.
A three-match home stand concludes when Virginia Tech visits Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on Friday January 27. The Hokies crowned six All-Americans at last year's NCAA Championships and won their first team trophy thanks to a fourth place finish. Virginia Tech last visited Lehigh in 2010.
Lehigh will hit the road the following day for Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the Michigan Wolverines on January 29. The Mountain Hawks and Wolverines last met in November 2011 which was the last of a streak that saw Lehigh wrestle Michigan in 34 straight seasons.
"We've been trying to get Michigan back on our schedule for a few years and it had not been working out with the Big Ten schedule," Santoro said. "We're really glad it worked out this year. Virginia Tech is another program that we've been trying to get back on our schedule these last few years. It's always important to bring some of those top caliber teams to your campus. With Virginia Tech we're obviously going to return the favor and hopefully keep some of these series going."
Following a weekend off, Lehigh's final scheduled home dual will be against EIWA rival Army West Point on Friday February 10. It will mark Lehigh's first dual against Army since 2009.
Last year, Lehigh went 7-0 in conference duals and represented the EIWA in the NWCA National Championship Dual Series, traveling to Rutgers to close out the dual season. This year the EIWA will be awarded two spots in the National Championship Dual Series with one going to the Ivy League dual champ and the other going to the champion among the EIWA members that are also Patriot League members or one of the EIWA members not normally affiliated with the Ivy League and Patriot League. If necessary, Lehigh may host a non-Patriot, non-Ivy EIWA opponent on either February 11 or 12.
"We've never done anything like this 'Patriot League Championship'-type deal," Santoro explained. "This is the first year they're really dividing the league into three different segments (for duals) and we'll wrestle to see who's the champion coming out; and that team will go on to National Duals. That will be something new for all of us but we're all pretty excited for it."
Should Lehigh qualify for the NWCA National Championship Dual Series, the Mountain Hawks will host a Big Ten school to close out the dual season the weekend of February 17-19.
The postseason begins March 3-4 when Bucknell hosts the EIWA Championships at Sojka Pavilion, while the NCAA Championships return to St. Louis, Mo. March 16-18.
Season ticket renewals were sent out in late August with new season tickets going on sale on Thursday September 15. Individual match tickets, including a limited number of tickets for the match at Penn State will go on sale September 22.
The Mountain Hawks posted a 13-3 dual mark last season and finished second at the EIWA Championships and 14th at the NCAA Championships. Lehigh's roster features eight returning NCAA qualifiers, including a trio of All-Americans in seniors Mitch Minotti and Randy Cruz and junior Darian Cruz.
The Mountain Hawks will compete in two in-season tournaments with a return to the Southern Scuffle in early January. Lehigh will also compete in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, formerly the Northeast Duals, which will feature a tournament format for the first time.
"There are a lot of new teams on our schedule," said Santoro, who begins his ninth season. "It will be exciting for our fans to see some high caliber wrestling and some different teams along the way. We always want to give our guys the most competitive schedule that we can find and we're going to expect them to compete at the highest level with those teams."
Fans will enjoy their first look at the 2016-17 Lehigh wrestling team with the annual Brown and White Wrestle-offs, set for Thursday October 27 inside Leeman-Turner Arena.
While most of the Lehigh squad will open up at the November 6 East Stroudsburg Open, the Mountain Hawks will open their dual meet schedule against EIWA rival Bucknell on Friday, November 11.
Two days later, Lehigh will head to Troy, N.Y. for the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Instead of wrestling two or three duals like in previous years, the Journeymen College Classic will be more of a round-robin tournament style, with different pools, no team scoring, and opportunities for up to 15 entries to wrestle three or four matches in one day.
Lehigh will head to western Pennsylvania the following weekend to face Pitt on Friday November 18 and Edinboro the following afternoon.
After taking Thanksgiving weekend off, Lehigh will return to action with a visit to defending national champion Penn State for the 105th meeting between the longtime rivals. Penn State will host this year's rivalry dual at the nearly 16,000-seat Bryce Jordan Center instead of Rec Hall as the Nittany Lions' annual signature home dual.
"We're excited that Penn State selected us to wrestle in the Bryce Jordan Center," Santoro said. "It's going to be a great experience and an opportunity to wrestle in front of a huge crowd."
The Mountain Hawks will return to Leeman-Turner Arena to close out the fall semester with a pair of EIWA duals. Coach Chris Ayres '99 brings his Princeton Tigers in on Friday December 9, while the Drexel Dragons will visit on Sunday December 11.
To kick off 2017, Lehigh will once again ring in the New Year in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Southern Scuffle. The Mountain Hawks finished third at last year's Scuffle and will be making their third consecutive appearance in the January 1-2 event.
Lehigh's next four duals will be against EIWA opposition beginning with road contests at Navy (January 13) and American (January 14). The following weekend Lehigh returns to Leeman-Turner Arena to face two longtime EIWA rivals. The Penn Quakers will visit on Friday January 20 before the 10-time defending EIWA Champion Cornell Big Red visit on Saturday January 21. Lehigh snapped a four-dual losing streak to Cornell with a 25-13 win over the Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y. last season.
A three-match home stand concludes when Virginia Tech visits Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on Friday January 27. The Hokies crowned six All-Americans at last year's NCAA Championships and won their first team trophy thanks to a fourth place finish. Virginia Tech last visited Lehigh in 2010.
Lehigh will hit the road the following day for Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the Michigan Wolverines on January 29. The Mountain Hawks and Wolverines last met in November 2011 which was the last of a streak that saw Lehigh wrestle Michigan in 34 straight seasons.
"We've been trying to get Michigan back on our schedule for a few years and it had not been working out with the Big Ten schedule," Santoro said. "We're really glad it worked out this year. Virginia Tech is another program that we've been trying to get back on our schedule these last few years. It's always important to bring some of those top caliber teams to your campus. With Virginia Tech we're obviously going to return the favor and hopefully keep some of these series going."
Following a weekend off, Lehigh's final scheduled home dual will be against EIWA rival Army West Point on Friday February 10. It will mark Lehigh's first dual against Army since 2009.
Last year, Lehigh went 7-0 in conference duals and represented the EIWA in the NWCA National Championship Dual Series, traveling to Rutgers to close out the dual season. This year the EIWA will be awarded two spots in the National Championship Dual Series with one going to the Ivy League dual champ and the other going to the champion among the EIWA members that are also Patriot League members or one of the EIWA members not normally affiliated with the Ivy League and Patriot League. If necessary, Lehigh may host a non-Patriot, non-Ivy EIWA opponent on either February 11 or 12.
"We've never done anything like this 'Patriot League Championship'-type deal," Santoro explained. "This is the first year they're really dividing the league into three different segments (for duals) and we'll wrestle to see who's the champion coming out; and that team will go on to National Duals. That will be something new for all of us but we're all pretty excited for it."
Should Lehigh qualify for the NWCA National Championship Dual Series, the Mountain Hawks will host a Big Ten school to close out the dual season the weekend of February 17-19.
The postseason begins March 3-4 when Bucknell hosts the EIWA Championships at Sojka Pavilion, while the NCAA Championships return to St. Louis, Mo. March 16-18.
Season ticket renewals were sent out in late August with new season tickets going on sale on Thursday September 15. Individual match tickets, including a limited number of tickets for the match at Penn State will go on sale September 22.
The Mountain Hawks posted a 13-3 dual mark last season and finished second at the EIWA Championships and 14th at the NCAA Championships. Lehigh's roster features eight returning NCAA qualifiers, including a trio of All-Americans in seniors Mitch Minotti and Randy Cruz and junior Darian Cruz.
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