Friday, November 30
Bethlehem, Pa.
7:00 PM
Lehigh University
vs
Princeton
Photo by: Rich Warnke
Mountain Hawks set for home opener Friday, rivalry dual at defending champs Sunday
11/28/2018 4:34:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks were off from competition during the Thanksgiving holiday and return to action to face two longtime rivals this weekend. First, No. 8 Lehigh will host EIWA rival Princeton in its home dual opener; then on Sunday, the Mountain Hawks will visit No. 1-ranked and three-time defending national champion Penn State for the 107th meeting in the series. Lehigh dropped its weather-delayed dual opener at No. 5 Michigan 21-13 on Nov. 18, a dual in which the Mountain Hawks had a chance to win going into the final bout. Sophomores Jake Jakobsen (197) and Jordan Wood (285) picked up wins to improve to 4-0 on the season, while freshman Jimmy Hoffman won by injury default in his dual debut at 149.
Lehigh will finally open its home schedule when it hosts Princeton on Friday. The Nov. 30 home opener will mark the latest start for a Lehigh home dual opener since 1997-98. That season, Lehigh competed in several fall semester tournaments but didn't host its first home dual until Jan. 10, when the Mountain Hawks welcomed Hofstra and Michigan for a day-night doubleheader. Lehigh went 6-1 in home duals last season and 6-0 in duals at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. In Pat Santoro's first 10 seasons as head coach, Lehigh is 60-17 in home duals and 53-12 in duals inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
Eight wrestlers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by sophomore Jordan Wood, who is ranked sixth at 285. Lehigh also has eight wrestlers ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and seven ranked by FloWrestling and The Open Mat. Senior Ryan Preisch and juniors Jordan Kutler and Cole Walter join Wood in being ranked across the board by all four outlets. There are three weight classes in which the various outlets have two different Mountain Hawks in their rankings: 125, 133 and 197.
Lehigh had three wrestlers make their dual debuts at Michigan. Sophomore Brandon Paetzell made his first Lehigh dual appearance at 133 after going 6-5 for Rutgers in duals in 2016-17. At 141, junior Ryan Pomrinca made his first career dual appearance, while freshman Jimmy Hoffman made his dual debut at 149. The trio combined to go 1-2, with Hoffman picking up a win by injury default. Paetzell and Hoffman made their first official appearances for the Mountain Hawks at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Pomrinca and Hoffman could make their first official Grace Hall appearances, should they take the mats against Princeton. Paetzell has wrestled at Grace Hall before, taking on Darian Cruz as a freshman at Rutgers in 2017.
Sunday's dual at Penn State will mark Lehigh's fifth dual against a team ranked No. 1 in the NWCA dual meet poll in Pat Santoro's tenure as head coach. The last three duals against top-ranked teams were visits by Penn State to Lehigh in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2017-18. The Mountain Hawks defeated No. 1 Cornell at Stabler Arena in January 2011 for Lehigh's first and only win in any sport against a team ranked No. 1 in the country. Lehigh's last road dual against a No. 1-ranked team was a 31-6 loss against Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Dec. 2, 2005.
Princeton visits Bethlehem Friday night with three ranked wrestlers in its projected lineup. The Tigers come in at 0-2 in duals after falling to Big Ten foes Iowa and Wisconsin on the road two weekends ago. Princeton also opened its season by hosting the Princeton Open on Nov. 4. The Tigers are led by returning All-American Matthew Kolodzik, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation following a third place NCAA finish last season. Sophomore Patrick Brucki (197) and freshman Patrick Glory (125) are also ranked nationally. Brucki, Glory and junior Kevin Parker (184) all won individual titles at the Princeton Open. Princeton finished third at last year's EIWA Championships. Former Lehigh All-American and assistant coach Chris Ayres '99 is in his 13th season as Princeton's head coach.
Three-time defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Penn State opened its season by thrashing Kent State 52-3 and then dominated the field at Penn's Keystone Classic, racking up 192 points to claim the team title, crowning eight individual champions in the process. The Nittany Lions will visit Bucknell on Friday before hosting Lehigh on Sunday. Penn State's lineup features four wrestlers who have won individual NCAA titles and includes seven wrestlers ranked in the top five at their respective weight classes. Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Bo Nickal (197) are all two-time NCAA champions who are ranked second at their respective weights. Mark Hall, a 2017 champ and 2018 finalist is ranked second at 174. NCAA wrestling legend Cael Sanderson is in his 10th season as Penn State's head coach. Penn State has won seven NCAA team titles in the last eight seasons.
Princeton and Penn State are two of Lehigh's oldest rivals, with the Nittany Lions serving as Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent. Sunday's dual marks the 107th meeting and the 86th consecutive season that Lehigh will wrestle Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won the last eight duals. Lehigh and Princeton meet for the 61st time overall. The Mountain Hawks have won 14 straight against the Tigers.
Friday's dual versus Princeton begins at 7 p.m. from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
Sunday's Lehigh-Penn State match begins at 1:30 p.m. from Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. The dual will be televised on the Big Ten Network and will be streamed via BTN2Go.com via BTN Plus. Lehigh will offer audio coverage on WVLR-FM (91.3).
Lehigh will close out the fall semester on Saturday, Dec. 8, with a visit to No. 3 Iowa in what will be the first meeting between the Mountain Hawks and Hawkeyes since 2014. The Mountain Hawks visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the 2015 NWCA National Duals but did not face the host Hawkeyes in that event. Match time is set for 8:30 p.m. ET as Lehigh looks for its first-ever win against Iowa in wrestling.
The 2018-19 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Lehigh will finally open its home schedule when it hosts Princeton on Friday. The Nov. 30 home opener will mark the latest start for a Lehigh home dual opener since 1997-98. That season, Lehigh competed in several fall semester tournaments but didn't host its first home dual until Jan. 10, when the Mountain Hawks welcomed Hofstra and Michigan for a day-night doubleheader. Lehigh went 6-1 in home duals last season and 6-0 in duals at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. In Pat Santoro's first 10 seasons as head coach, Lehigh is 60-17 in home duals and 53-12 in duals inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
Eight wrestlers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by sophomore Jordan Wood, who is ranked sixth at 285. Lehigh also has eight wrestlers ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and seven ranked by FloWrestling and The Open Mat. Senior Ryan Preisch and juniors Jordan Kutler and Cole Walter join Wood in being ranked across the board by all four outlets. There are three weight classes in which the various outlets have two different Mountain Hawks in their rankings: 125, 133 and 197.
Lehigh had three wrestlers make their dual debuts at Michigan. Sophomore Brandon Paetzell made his first Lehigh dual appearance at 133 after going 6-5 for Rutgers in duals in 2016-17. At 141, junior Ryan Pomrinca made his first career dual appearance, while freshman Jimmy Hoffman made his dual debut at 149. The trio combined to go 1-2, with Hoffman picking up a win by injury default. Paetzell and Hoffman made their first official appearances for the Mountain Hawks at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Pomrinca and Hoffman could make their first official Grace Hall appearances, should they take the mats against Princeton. Paetzell has wrestled at Grace Hall before, taking on Darian Cruz as a freshman at Rutgers in 2017.
Sunday's dual at Penn State will mark Lehigh's fifth dual against a team ranked No. 1 in the NWCA dual meet poll in Pat Santoro's tenure as head coach. The last three duals against top-ranked teams were visits by Penn State to Lehigh in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2017-18. The Mountain Hawks defeated No. 1 Cornell at Stabler Arena in January 2011 for Lehigh's first and only win in any sport against a team ranked No. 1 in the country. Lehigh's last road dual against a No. 1-ranked team was a 31-6 loss against Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Dec. 2, 2005.
Princeton visits Bethlehem Friday night with three ranked wrestlers in its projected lineup. The Tigers come in at 0-2 in duals after falling to Big Ten foes Iowa and Wisconsin on the road two weekends ago. Princeton also opened its season by hosting the Princeton Open on Nov. 4. The Tigers are led by returning All-American Matthew Kolodzik, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation following a third place NCAA finish last season. Sophomore Patrick Brucki (197) and freshman Patrick Glory (125) are also ranked nationally. Brucki, Glory and junior Kevin Parker (184) all won individual titles at the Princeton Open. Princeton finished third at last year's EIWA Championships. Former Lehigh All-American and assistant coach Chris Ayres '99 is in his 13th season as Princeton's head coach.
Three-time defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Penn State opened its season by thrashing Kent State 52-3 and then dominated the field at Penn's Keystone Classic, racking up 192 points to claim the team title, crowning eight individual champions in the process. The Nittany Lions will visit Bucknell on Friday before hosting Lehigh on Sunday. Penn State's lineup features four wrestlers who have won individual NCAA titles and includes seven wrestlers ranked in the top five at their respective weight classes. Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Bo Nickal (197) are all two-time NCAA champions who are ranked second at their respective weights. Mark Hall, a 2017 champ and 2018 finalist is ranked second at 174. NCAA wrestling legend Cael Sanderson is in his 10th season as Penn State's head coach. Penn State has won seven NCAA team titles in the last eight seasons.
Princeton and Penn State are two of Lehigh's oldest rivals, with the Nittany Lions serving as Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent. Sunday's dual marks the 107th meeting and the 86th consecutive season that Lehigh will wrestle Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won the last eight duals. Lehigh and Princeton meet for the 61st time overall. The Mountain Hawks have won 14 straight against the Tigers.
Friday's dual versus Princeton begins at 7 p.m. from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
Sunday's Lehigh-Penn State match begins at 1:30 p.m. from Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. The dual will be televised on the Big Ten Network and will be streamed via BTN2Go.com via BTN Plus. Lehigh will offer audio coverage on WVLR-FM (91.3).
Lehigh will close out the fall semester on Saturday, Dec. 8, with a visit to No. 3 Iowa in what will be the first meeting between the Mountain Hawks and Hawkeyes since 2014. The Mountain Hawks visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the 2015 NWCA National Duals but did not face the host Hawkeyes in that event. Match time is set for 8:30 p.m. ET as Lehigh looks for its first-ever win against Iowa in wrestling.
The 2018-19 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
| Date: | November 30, 2018 |
| Opponent: | Princeton Tigers |
| First match: | 7:05 p.m. |
| Arena: | Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall |
| Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 0-1 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Princeton's record: | 0-2 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Series: | Lehigh leads 54-5-1 |
| Streak: | Lehigh has won the last 14 duals |
| Television: | None |
| Radio: | Fox Sports Radio 1230 and 1320 with Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell beginning at 6:45 p.m. |
| Internet broadcast: | Video on the Patriot League Network (PatriotLeague.TV) Audio at LVFoxSports.com |
| Behind enemy lines: | http://www.goprincetontigers.com |
| Date: | December 2, 2018 |
| Opponent: | No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions |
| First match: | 1:30 p.m. |
| Arena: | Rec Hall |
| Location: | University Park, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 0-1 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Penn State's record: | 1-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten |
| Series: | Penn State leads 69-34-3 |
| Streak: | Penn State has won the last eight duals |
| Television: | Big Ten Network live |
| Radio: | WLVR-FM (91.3) beginning at 1:15 p.m. with Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell |
| Internet broadcast: | Video at BTN2Go.com Audio at WLVR.org |
| Behind enemy lines: | http://www.gopsusports.com |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Players Mentioned
125
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
285
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