Saturday, March 21
St. Louis, Mo.
11:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
NCAA Championships
All-Americans Beckman, Minotti finish up Saturday in St. Louis
3/21/2015 1:52:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Brackets/Team Scores | Listen to Saturday night's finals
ST. LOUIS – Lehigh All-Americans Mason Beckman and Mitch Minotti completed their 2014-15 seasons Saturday morning in the medal round of the NCAA Championships at Scottrade Center. Beckman dropped two matches by decision and finishes sixth for the second straight season while an injury forced Minotti to forfeit to eighth place.
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Beckman began Saturday's session in the consolation semifinals at 133 against No. 1 seed Chris Dardanes of Minnesota. A second period escape put Beckman ahead 1-0 after two periods but Dardanes chose neutral in the third and took Beckman down twice to win 5-3.
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The loss to Dardanes dropped Beckman to the fifth place match where he lost the 2014-15 rubber match against Penn State's Jimmy Gulibon. Beckman and Gulibon were tied 3-3 after one period with Beckman scoring the first takedown and Gulibon answering with one of his own. Like their November meeting in Rec Hall, Gulibon caught Beckman in a scramble for two-and-two and led 7-5 after two periods before adding a third period escape and riding time to win 8-5.
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"Those guys are extremely good," Beckman said of his Saturday opponents. "Dardanes is the one seed for a reason. He came into this tournament without a loss. I just couldn't quite find a way to get the takedown that I needed or get on top which was part of our game plan. They had a good game plan to their credit.
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"Against Gulibon it was the same thing as the dual," Beckman continued. Â "Got into one scramble, gave up a quick 2-and-2 but to his credit he did the things he needed to do. His re-attacks were really crisp and I couldn't quite get to the legs when I really needed to at the end."
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Beckman's junior season ends at 30-8.
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Minotti medically forfeited his seventh place match at 157 to Michigan's Brian Murphy after suffering an injury in Friday night's consolation quarterfinals, Minotti finishes in eighth place and is now a two-time All-American. He finishes his sophomore season at 19-8.
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"It's awesome," Minotti said about his second All-America medal. "With all the injuries I've had, I feel like I was never healthy. Just to accomplish it again and be a two-time All-American now, it sounds great."
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Lehigh enters Saturday night's championship finals in 13th place with 39 points. Ohio State clinched the national team championship during Saturday's morning session.
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Junior Nathaniel Brown will wrestle Cornell's Gabe Dean in the NCAA finals at 184 Saturday night. The finals session begins at 7 p.m. CT from Scottrade Center. Brown will be fifth up in the finals as the championship finals will begin at 149 and run through 141. The finals will be televised on ESPN and WatchESPN while audio of Brown's finals match will be available for free at Lehighsports.com.
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Consolation Semifinals
133 – No. 1 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) dec. No. 10 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) 5-3
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Fifth place match
133 – No. 7 Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State) dec. No. 10 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) 9-5
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Seventh place match
157 – No. 11 Brian Murphy (Michigan) medical forfeit No. 12 Mitch Minotti (Lehigh)
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ST. LOUIS – Lehigh All-Americans Mason Beckman and Mitch Minotti completed their 2014-15 seasons Saturday morning in the medal round of the NCAA Championships at Scottrade Center. Beckman dropped two matches by decision and finishes sixth for the second straight season while an injury forced Minotti to forfeit to eighth place.
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Beckman began Saturday's session in the consolation semifinals at 133 against No. 1 seed Chris Dardanes of Minnesota. A second period escape put Beckman ahead 1-0 after two periods but Dardanes chose neutral in the third and took Beckman down twice to win 5-3.
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The loss to Dardanes dropped Beckman to the fifth place match where he lost the 2014-15 rubber match against Penn State's Jimmy Gulibon. Beckman and Gulibon were tied 3-3 after one period with Beckman scoring the first takedown and Gulibon answering with one of his own. Like their November meeting in Rec Hall, Gulibon caught Beckman in a scramble for two-and-two and led 7-5 after two periods before adding a third period escape and riding time to win 8-5.
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"Those guys are extremely good," Beckman said of his Saturday opponents. "Dardanes is the one seed for a reason. He came into this tournament without a loss. I just couldn't quite find a way to get the takedown that I needed or get on top which was part of our game plan. They had a good game plan to their credit.
Â
"Against Gulibon it was the same thing as the dual," Beckman continued. Â "Got into one scramble, gave up a quick 2-and-2 but to his credit he did the things he needed to do. His re-attacks were really crisp and I couldn't quite get to the legs when I really needed to at the end."
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Beckman's junior season ends at 30-8.
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Minotti medically forfeited his seventh place match at 157 to Michigan's Brian Murphy after suffering an injury in Friday night's consolation quarterfinals, Minotti finishes in eighth place and is now a two-time All-American. He finishes his sophomore season at 19-8.
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"It's awesome," Minotti said about his second All-America medal. "With all the injuries I've had, I feel like I was never healthy. Just to accomplish it again and be a two-time All-American now, it sounds great."
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Lehigh enters Saturday night's championship finals in 13th place with 39 points. Ohio State clinched the national team championship during Saturday's morning session.
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Junior Nathaniel Brown will wrestle Cornell's Gabe Dean in the NCAA finals at 184 Saturday night. The finals session begins at 7 p.m. CT from Scottrade Center. Brown will be fifth up in the finals as the championship finals will begin at 149 and run through 141. The finals will be televised on ESPN and WatchESPN while audio of Brown's finals match will be available for free at Lehighsports.com.
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Consolation Semifinals
133 – No. 1 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) dec. No. 10 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) 5-3
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Fifth place match
133 – No. 7 Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State) dec. No. 10 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) 9-5
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Seventh place match
157 – No. 11 Brian Murphy (Michigan) medical forfeit No. 12 Mitch Minotti (Lehigh)
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Players Mentioned
133
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
157
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