Lehigh 17 Penn State 16

No. 9 Lehigh slips past Penn State to move to 12-0
1/4/2009

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - In a dual that came down to the final bout, junior Mike Galante earned a 9-5 decision over Mark Friend to lead No. 9 Lehigh to a 17-16 victory over No. 16 Penn State Sunday afternoon at Rec Hall. The Mountain Hawks trailed by two after nine bouts, but Galante racked up four takedowns in his victory, which improved the Brown and White to 12-0 on the season, matching the 1961-62 team for the best start in school history.

“It was a great win for our guys,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “Rec Hall is a great place to wrestle. It's a tough place to wrestle and a tougher place to win. All year we have been finding ways to win the close matches and today was no different.”

The dual began at 174 with a wild battle between 14th ranked sophomore Alex Caruso and No. 15 Quentin Wright. Caruso scored the opening takedown in the first period but found himself trailing in the third. A second takedown and subsequent Wright escape tied the bout at five after regulation. In the sudden victory takedown, Wright shot a double-leg attempt and after a lengthy scramble netted the decisive takedown in a 7-5 win.

Junior David Craig gave the Mountain Hawks the lead after two bouts with a 12-2 major decision over Jack Decker at 184. Leading 2-0 after one period, Craig reversed Decker in the second period and added a pair of tilts to build 9-1 lead.

At 197, Lehigh extended its lead behind a dominant performance from freshman Joe Kennedy, who earned a 15-3 major over Clay Steadman. Kennedy scored the bouts first takedown late in the first period and added a pair of takedowns and a three point near fall to extend his lead in the second.

Freshman Zach Rey continued the Mountain Hawks run with an 11-5 decision over Cameron Wade at heavyweight. The Nittany Lions gained four key points back as Brad Pataky won a 15-1 major decision over freshman John McDonald, but Lehigh maintained an 11-7 lead in the team standings at the halfway point of the dual.

Penn State climbed within a point as Jake Strayer earned a 6-1 decision over junior Matt Fisk at 133, but classmate Seth Ciasulli extended the Lehigh lead with a 3-2 win over No. 20 Frank Molinaro at 141. They key to Ciasulli's win was a third period reversal and a riding time advantage gained in the second period.

“We knew the matches at 174 and 141 would be toss-ups,” noted Santoro. “We ended up splitting those two key matches, but the bonus points from 184 and 197 really helped us out.

The Nittany Lions climbed back within one as defending NCAA runner-up Bubba Jenkins held off senior Trevor Chinn 7-2 at 149, and then Penn State took the lead as Dan Vallimont knocked off freshman Sean Bilodeau 9-4.

In the deciding bout at 165 Galante converted a pair of first period takedowns and added a third in the second period. Friend spent most of the third period looking for a big move, but Galante would not allow it, and added one final score at the buzzer plus riding time advantage to lock up Lehigh's first victory over Penn State since January 7, 2005.

The Mountain Hawks will return to the mats next Friday when they head to Hampton, Virginia to take part in the 27th Virginia Duals. Seeds and brackets for the 16-team dual tournament will be unveiled early next week, with wrestling action set to begin Friday at 9 a.m. All of Lehigh's Virginia duals matches will be broadcast live online at Lehighsports.com, with streaming audio powered by Yahoo! Sports College Broadcast.

174 Quentin Wright (PSU) dec. Alex Caruso (Lehigh) 7-5, s.v.
184 David Craig (Lehigh) maj. dec. Jack Decker (PSU) 12-2
197 Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) maj. dec. Clay Steadman (PSU) 15-3
285 Zach Rey (Lehigh) dec. Cameron Wade (PSU) 11-5
125 Brad Pataky (PSU) maj. dec. John McDonald (Lehigh) 15-1
133 Jake Strayer (PSU) dec. Matt Fisk (Lehigh) 6-1
141 Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) dec. Frank Molinaro (PSU) 3-2
149 Bubba Jenkins (PSU) dec. Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) 7-2
157 Dan Vallimont (PSU) dec. Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) 9-4
165 Mike Galante (Lehigh) dec. Mark Friend (PSU) 9-5
Referees - Matt Sorochinsky and Kevin Gallagher