"There were still some areas where we were not executing as well as we would hope," head coach Pat Santoro said. "It's hard to fix those things in one day, so we just have to get ready for next week now."

The Mountain Hawks opened up the day with their easiest win of the year so far. Seth Ciasulli took the mat, received the cheers from the crowd and allowed referee James Rupp to raise his hand over his head in victory as the Tigers chose to forfeit the match at 141.

After six points were added to the scoreboard, Trevor Chinn added a few more with a dominating performance against Danny Scotton at 149. Chinn was content with trading the two-point takedowns for one-point escapes as he continually scored against his opponent and racked up a 16-5 major decision.

The Mountain Hawks suffered their only setback of the day when Marty Everin delivered an 8-2 defeat to Sean Bilodeau at 157. Bilodeau fell behind 2-0 at the end of the first period and could not climb out of the hole as Everin kept the pressure on throughout.

Mike Galante got the Brown and White back on track with another dominating performance at 165. The junior went on the attack in the first minute of the match, scoring a big takedown that led to a near fall and almost ended the match as soon as it had begun. Galante grabbed an 11-3 lead after one period and it only grew from there as he ran away for a 21-7 major decision.

Subbing in for Alex Caruso – the No. 13 wrestler in the country at 174 – Brandon Hatchett kept the pressure on the Tigers with the fourth win of the day for the Mountain Hawks. Hatchett scored two takedowns in the first period and held on for a convincing 8-3 decision in his first dual meet action of the season.

"He's going to be really good," Santoro said. "He wrestles really hard and he's really excited to be out there. He's got some skills even though he gives up a little bit of weight."

David Craig gave the Mountain Hawks their third major decision victory of the afternoon at 184 with a 12-4 victory. The junior from Brandon, Fla. let Kurt Brendel escape in the last minute to set up a final takedown late in the match to secure the eight-point win.

The match between Joe Kennedy and Zach Morse at 197 was never in doubt, with Kennedy taking the lead early and never relinquishing control in a 12-3 major decision. But that didn’t stop the Grace Hall crowd from getting into things, chanting “let’s go Joe” in the third period as Kennedy extended his lead to 9-3 with a takedown en route to the major.

Zach Rey stirred up the crowd with the third major decision in a row at 285, as he defeated Stephen Turner 17-6. Rey held a six-point advantage at the start of the third period, but the heavyweight quickly escaped and scored a takedown to give himself the necessary cushion for the major decision.

With the match winding down, John McDonald made sure the fans would not go home without some excitement by scoring the only pin of the day at 125. McDonald took down Robert Benitez four times in the first period, almost earning a pin on the third takedown. Then on the fourth takedown, McDonald grabbed hold of Benetiez’ arm and turned the Tiger over for the quick pin, 2:35 into the match.

Then Matt Fisk wrapped up the day’s events with the second-consecutive first-period pin over Nikhil Pereira to send the fans home quickly. Fisk wrapped his legs around Periera’s head and flipped the grappler over to instantly record the pin. The crowd erupted and the teams poured on to the mat as the match concluded after Fisk’s pin.

"As a coach, you never underestimate anybody," Santoro said. "We wrestled hard and they wrestled hard. But, again, we have a lot of things to work on."

Lehigh returns to action on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks travel to Troy, N.Y. for the Journeymen/Brute Northeast Duals. The Mountain Hawks will wrestle four duals, beginning with a 9:15 a.m. matchup with No. 7 Oklahoma State. Lehigh will also face UNC Greensboro, Binghamton and Appalachian State on the day.

Bonus points: Prior to Sunday’s dual with Princeton, the Lehigh community honored the late Gerry Leeman with a memorial service inside Grace Hall…This was the 55th meeting between Lehigh and Princeton all time, with the Brown and White dominating the series, 49-5-1 since 1911…The last five matches of the day were finished with Lehigh wins by fall or major decision to complete the rout.

141 Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) W Forfeit 
149 Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) maj. dec. Danny Scotton (Princeton) 16-5
157 Marty Everin (Princeton) dec. Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) 8-2
165 Mike Galante (Lehigh) maj. dec. Mike Alvarez (Princeton) 21-7
174 Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) dec. Travis Erdman (Princeton) 8-3
184 David Craig (Lehigh) maj. dec. Kurt Brendel (Princeton) 12-4
197 Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) maj. dec. Zach Morse (Princeton) 12-3
285 Zach Rey (Lehigh) maj. dec. Stephen Turner (Princeton) 17-6
125 John McDonald (Lehigh) fall Robert Benitez (Princeton) 2:35
133 Matt Fisk (Lehigh) fall Nikhil Pereira (Princeton) 1:59

 Referee: James Rupp

 Attendance: 1,356