Saturday, November 23
Princeton, N.J.
5:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
Princeton
Duals with two more ranked opponents await Lehigh wrestlers this weekend
11/22/2019 10:17:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After opening the dual season with a criteria victory over No. 4 Oklahoma State, two more top 15 opponents await the Mountain Hawks this weekend. No. 7 Lehigh heads to Princeton on Saturday to face the 14th-ranked Tigers before returning home to battle No. 12 Pittsburgh on Sunday inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Major decision victories from sophomore Josh Humphreys and senior Jordan Kutler helped Lehigh build a 58-48 edge in total match points, which proved to be the deciding criteria. Lehigh heads to Princeton looking to avenge its first loss to the Tigers in 50 years last year. The Mountain Hawks then resume their cross-state rivalry with Pitt following a one-year hiatus.
Lehigh's dual meet schedule features nine teams currently ranked in the NWCA top 25, including both of this weekend's opponents. Seven of Lehigh's first nine duals will be against nationally-ranked opposition.
Lehigh opened its dual meet schedule with a 21-20 victory over then-No. 4 Oklahoma State last Saturday at Stabler Arena. An Oklahoma State forfeit to Lehigh at 133 left the match tied at 20-20, but the Mountain Hawks' 58-48 edge in total match points gave Lehigh the victory on the third critieria. Senior Ryan Pomrinca opened the dual with a 3-2 victory and sophomore Josh Humphreys and senior Jordan Kutler won major decisions to give Lehigh an 11-6 lead halfway through. Junior Jordan Wood added a win at 285 as Lehigh beat Oklahoma State for just the second time in 12 all-time meetings and the first time since 2008. The win was Lehigh's fourth against a top five-ranked team under Pat Santoro. The Mountain Hawks also beat No. 1 Cornell in 2010-11, No. 3 Ohio State in 2014-15 and beat No. 4 Michigan in 2017-18.
Six Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by senior Jordan Kutler, who is ranked second at 174. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News and has five ranked by The Open Mat. In addition to Kutler, Brandon Paetzell (125), Nick Farro (133), Josh Humphreys (157) and Jordan Wood (285) are ranked across the board by all four outlets. Junior Jake Jakobsen (197) is ranked by two and sophomore Jimmy Hoffman (149) is ranked by one.
Princeton opens its dual meet season when Lehigh visits on Saturday. The Tigers hosted the Princeton Open earlier this month, with Patrick Glory (125) and Mike D'Angelo (149) winning titles. The Tigers have continued their recent resurgence with a 9-6 dual record last year, a third place EIWA finish, and a 15th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Princeton had three All-Americans last year. Patrick Brucki is ranked second by InterMat at 197. Glory is ranked fifth at 125. Matthew Kolodzik is taking an Olympic deferral year, but D'Angelo is ranked 12th at 149. The fourth ranked Tiger is Quincy Monday, who is ranked ninth at 157. Monday lost to Josh Humphreys twice last year, but beat Humphreys in the semifinals of the Princeton Open.
When Lehigh meets Princeton, the Mountain Hawks will get re-acquainted with Tiger head coach Chris Ayres '99, a former EIWA Champion, All-American and assistant coach at Lehigh. Ayres, wrestled for the Brown and White from 1995-1999 and coached on Greg Strobel's staff for five seasons, before moving on to Princeton. He won an EIWA title at 150 in 1998 and earned All-American honors with a sixth place finish at 157 in 1999. Ayres wrestled under and then coached alongside Pat Santoro and succeeded him as Lehigh's Harmon-Rauch Assistant Coach in 2003.
Pittsburgh carries a 1-1 dual record into Sunday's dual with the Mountain Hawks. The Panthers opened their season at the Michigan State Open, with Cole Matthews (141), Micky Philippi (133) and Nino Bonaccorsi (184) winning titles. Pitt then split a pair of home duals, beating Campbell 28-6 on Nov. 9 and falling to then-No. 3 Ohio State 23-12 on Nov. 15. Six Panthers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by Philippi, who is fourth at 133. Bonaccorsi and heavyweight Demetrius Thomas are also ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes. Other ranked Panthers include Matthews, Taleb Rahmani (157) and Jake Wentzel (165). Keith Gavin is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater.
Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro wrestled for the Panthers from 1985-1989, under the guidance of the late Rande Stottlemyer, who retired following the 2012-13 season. Pittsburgh's only four-time All-American, Santoro amassed a 167-13 record in four seasons for the Panthers, and won national titles at 142 in 1988 and 1989. A three-time EWL Champion, Santoro is also the Panthers' career leader with 43 falls and posted an incredible 97-3 record over his final two seasons. Pittsburgh assistant coach Drew Headlee returned to his alma mater in 2014 after two seasons as Lehigh's volunteer assistant coach. Third-year Panthers head coach Keith Gavin is also a Pitt graduate. After graduation, Gavin trained and competed in freestyle with the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club (now Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club) before moving on to coaching positions at Virginia and Oklahoma.
Princeton and Pittsburgh are two of Lehigh's oldest rivals as they rank seventh and sixth, respectively, on Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent list. Last year's Princeton win at Grace Hall snapped a 14-dual winning streak for the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh has won its last four duals against Pittsburgh. The Mountain Hawks are 6-1 against Princeton under Pat Santoro. Santoro is 9-2 in duals against his alma mater.
Saturday's dual versus Princeton begins at 5 p.m. from Jadwin Gym in New Jersey. The dual will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). Sunday's Lehigh-Pitt match begins at 2 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.
The Mountain Hawks will be off from competition over the Thanksgiving holiday and will return to action on Friday, Dec. 6 when they close out the fall semester by hosting top-ranked and four-time defending national champion Penn State in the 108th meeting between the longtime Eastern rivals. The match will be held in a sold out Stabler Arena. Penn State has won the last nine duals in the series, while Lehigh's last win came in coach Cael Sanderson's Penn State debut in 2009.
The 2019-20 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's dual meet schedule features nine teams currently ranked in the NWCA top 25, including both of this weekend's opponents. Seven of Lehigh's first nine duals will be against nationally-ranked opposition.
Lehigh opened its dual meet schedule with a 21-20 victory over then-No. 4 Oklahoma State last Saturday at Stabler Arena. An Oklahoma State forfeit to Lehigh at 133 left the match tied at 20-20, but the Mountain Hawks' 58-48 edge in total match points gave Lehigh the victory on the third critieria. Senior Ryan Pomrinca opened the dual with a 3-2 victory and sophomore Josh Humphreys and senior Jordan Kutler won major decisions to give Lehigh an 11-6 lead halfway through. Junior Jordan Wood added a win at 285 as Lehigh beat Oklahoma State for just the second time in 12 all-time meetings and the first time since 2008. The win was Lehigh's fourth against a top five-ranked team under Pat Santoro. The Mountain Hawks also beat No. 1 Cornell in 2010-11, No. 3 Ohio State in 2014-15 and beat No. 4 Michigan in 2017-18.
Six Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by senior Jordan Kutler, who is ranked second at 174. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News and has five ranked by The Open Mat. In addition to Kutler, Brandon Paetzell (125), Nick Farro (133), Josh Humphreys (157) and Jordan Wood (285) are ranked across the board by all four outlets. Junior Jake Jakobsen (197) is ranked by two and sophomore Jimmy Hoffman (149) is ranked by one.
Princeton opens its dual meet season when Lehigh visits on Saturday. The Tigers hosted the Princeton Open earlier this month, with Patrick Glory (125) and Mike D'Angelo (149) winning titles. The Tigers have continued their recent resurgence with a 9-6 dual record last year, a third place EIWA finish, and a 15th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Princeton had three All-Americans last year. Patrick Brucki is ranked second by InterMat at 197. Glory is ranked fifth at 125. Matthew Kolodzik is taking an Olympic deferral year, but D'Angelo is ranked 12th at 149. The fourth ranked Tiger is Quincy Monday, who is ranked ninth at 157. Monday lost to Josh Humphreys twice last year, but beat Humphreys in the semifinals of the Princeton Open.
When Lehigh meets Princeton, the Mountain Hawks will get re-acquainted with Tiger head coach Chris Ayres '99, a former EIWA Champion, All-American and assistant coach at Lehigh. Ayres, wrestled for the Brown and White from 1995-1999 and coached on Greg Strobel's staff for five seasons, before moving on to Princeton. He won an EIWA title at 150 in 1998 and earned All-American honors with a sixth place finish at 157 in 1999. Ayres wrestled under and then coached alongside Pat Santoro and succeeded him as Lehigh's Harmon-Rauch Assistant Coach in 2003.
Pittsburgh carries a 1-1 dual record into Sunday's dual with the Mountain Hawks. The Panthers opened their season at the Michigan State Open, with Cole Matthews (141), Micky Philippi (133) and Nino Bonaccorsi (184) winning titles. Pitt then split a pair of home duals, beating Campbell 28-6 on Nov. 9 and falling to then-No. 3 Ohio State 23-12 on Nov. 15. Six Panthers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by Philippi, who is fourth at 133. Bonaccorsi and heavyweight Demetrius Thomas are also ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes. Other ranked Panthers include Matthews, Taleb Rahmani (157) and Jake Wentzel (165). Keith Gavin is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater.
Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro wrestled for the Panthers from 1985-1989, under the guidance of the late Rande Stottlemyer, who retired following the 2012-13 season. Pittsburgh's only four-time All-American, Santoro amassed a 167-13 record in four seasons for the Panthers, and won national titles at 142 in 1988 and 1989. A three-time EWL Champion, Santoro is also the Panthers' career leader with 43 falls and posted an incredible 97-3 record over his final two seasons. Pittsburgh assistant coach Drew Headlee returned to his alma mater in 2014 after two seasons as Lehigh's volunteer assistant coach. Third-year Panthers head coach Keith Gavin is also a Pitt graduate. After graduation, Gavin trained and competed in freestyle with the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club (now Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club) before moving on to coaching positions at Virginia and Oklahoma.
Princeton and Pittsburgh are two of Lehigh's oldest rivals as they rank seventh and sixth, respectively, on Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent list. Last year's Princeton win at Grace Hall snapped a 14-dual winning streak for the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh has won its last four duals against Pittsburgh. The Mountain Hawks are 6-1 against Princeton under Pat Santoro. Santoro is 9-2 in duals against his alma mater.
Saturday's dual versus Princeton begins at 5 p.m. from Jadwin Gym in New Jersey. The dual will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). Sunday's Lehigh-Pitt match begins at 2 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.
The Mountain Hawks will be off from competition over the Thanksgiving holiday and will return to action on Friday, Dec. 6 when they close out the fall semester by hosting top-ranked and four-time defending national champion Penn State in the 108th meeting between the longtime Eastern rivals. The match will be held in a sold out Stabler Arena. Penn State has won the last nine duals in the series, while Lehigh's last win came in coach Cael Sanderson's Penn State debut in 2009.
The 2019-20 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
| Date: | November 23, 2019 |
| Opponent: | No. 14 Princeton Tigers |
| First match: | 5 p.m. |
| Arena: | Jadwin Gym |
| Location: | Princeton, N.J. |
| Lehigh's record: | 1-0 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Princeton's record: | 0-0 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Series: | Lehigh leads 54-6-1 |
| Streak: | Princeton won last year's dual. Lehigh had won the previous 14 duals. |
| Television: | None |
| Radio: | None |
| Internet broadcast: | Video on ESPN+ (subscription required) |
| Behind enemy lines: | http://www.goprincetontigers.com |
| Date: | November 24, 2019 |
| Opponent: | No. 12 Pittsburgh Panthers |
| First match: | 2:05 p.m. |
| Arena: | Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall |
| Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 1-0 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Pitt's record: | 1-1 overall, 0-0 ACC |
| Series: | Lehigh leads 44-17-2 |
| Streak: | Lehigh has won the last four duals |
| Television: | Service Electric 2 Sports, Patriot League Network |
| Radio: | None |
| Internet broadcast: | Video at PatriotLeague.TV |
| Behind enemy lines: | http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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