Lehighsports.com

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – No. 21 Lehigh battled hard against No. 7  Michigan Thursday night, building an early 10-0 lead, but the Wolverines battled back to win six consecutive bouts to defeat the Mountain Hawks 18-14 inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Michigan’s core of ranked wrestlers at 149, 165, 174 and 184 all pulled out decisions to help drop Lehigh to 0-2 in duals for the first time since the 1991-92 season.

“We made a big improvement from last week,” said Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel. “Rider was a good team and Michigan is obviously a good team, and we just always seem to wrestle them well.”

Things looked promising early on as Lehigh’s lightweights built a 10-0 lead for the Mountain Hawks after three bouts. For the second straight week, senior Patrick Berger was a winner at 125, this time taking advantage of a physically exhausted Mark Moos and handing the twelfth-ranked Wolverine a 10-5 decision. Freshman Seth Ciasulli then made it 6-0 Lehigh with a 4-2 win over Michigan’s Chris Diehl. Ciasulli converted a first period takedown, and added a second period escape plus riding time.

Junior Jeff Santo then provided much needed bonus points, racking up four takedowns to earn an 11-3 major decision over Brad Cusumano.

Michigan’s Josh Churella started the Wolverine run at 149, with a 7-0 shutout of Lehigh sophomore Trevor Chinn in a battle of top-ten grapplers. At 157, Jeff Marsh cut the Michigan deficit to 10-6 with a 10-5 win over Dave Nakasone. It was Nakasone who led 2-1 after the first period, but Marsh scored a pair of two point near falls plus a reversal in the final two periods to earn the win.

At 165, freshman Mike Galante fought hard against returning All-American Eric Tannenbaum, but with first and third period takedowns, Tannenbaum held on for a 6-3 win.

The Wolverines next benefited from a pair of 3-1 sudden victory wins at 174 and 184 respectively. In the first bout Steve Luke scored the winning takedown to defeat David Helfrich, then at 184 eighth ranked Tyrell Todd scored a sudden victory takedown to defeat freshman David Craig, who was 179-0 in high school and 5-0 at Lehigh prior to that defeat.

The deciding bout of the night became the match-up at 197, where senior Matt Cassidy made his season debut against Casey White. Cassidy looked strong early, but tweaked his knee in the second period. White scored a takedown in the second period and reversals in the second and third period for a 7-3 win.

Senior Paul Weibel again provided a strong finish for Lehigh, building up an 11-2 lead in the first period over Omar Maktabi before cruising to a 15-7 major decision.

The Mountain Hawks will send a contingent of wrestlers to the East Stroudsburg Open on Saturday, and then will travel to Lock Haven for the third annual Pennsylvania Duals. The Mountain Hawks will wrestle three duals on Sunday, meeting Pitt-Johnstown at 10 a.m., No. 13 Edinboro at noon and host Lock Haven at 2 p.m.