Lehighsports.com

Philadelphia, PA – The Mountain Hawks completed one of the best regular seasons in school history on Sunday as they swept a pair of duals with No. 16 Penn and Drexel.  With the wins, Lehigh finished 22-4 on the year, a new record for dual wins in a season.  The win over Penn also gave the team a 7-0 finish in EIWA matches, the second straight year the team has gone undefeated.

In a spectacular start to the dual meet against Penn, Mario Stuart put on a great battle with No. 3 Matt Valenti for the first six full minutes at 125.  Tied 3-3 to start the third, Valenti got a takedown and riding time to defeat Stuart 7-4.

At 133, Matt Ciasulli scored two three-point nearfalls and a takedown in the first period on his way to a 9-1 major decision against Matt Eveleth. Then Cory Cooperman exhibited some slick wrestling at 141, getting takedowns in the first and third periods plus a second period reversal to defeat Doug McGraw 7-3.

As expected, some unexpected things occurred at 149, with Matt Anderson giving up an early takedown while resting on his backside, with Rob Hitschler gratefully accepting the cradle hold and the two-point near fall that came with it.  Matt wasted little in battling back, scoring an escape and two takedowns in the last minute of the first.  In the third, Anderson scored a takedown at the edge of the mat with 0:52 left that turned out to be the clincher in a 9-8.

At 157, Derek Zinck looked sharp scoring two first period takedowns plus one third period escape in a quietly effective 5-2 victory over Brett Vanderveer at 157.  Then Troy Letters wrestled all of three periods, winning the first 2-0 (TD); the second period 8-3 (reversal and 3 TDs) and the third 4-1 (two TDs), adding 2:54 time advantage for yet another bonus win, 15-5, for the superb sophomore.

Brad Dillon also picked up a major decision at 174, getting back on track after the loss at Oklahoma State. Travis Frick then continued his hot streak at 184, before Penn took the last two matches at 197 and heavyweight.

Against Drexel, Mario Stuart finally got back on the winning track, and in a big way with a 12-4 major decision victory at 125. The Mountain Hawks then went on to win seven more in a row, highlighted by major decisions by Cory Cooperman  (9-1) at 141, Derek Zinck at 157 (17-7), and the 10th pin of the year for Troy Letters at 165. 

Drexel picked up their only two wins in the last two bouts, as Chris Jones decisioned Matt Cassidy 5-1and Chris Cowen defeated Anthony Livecchi 7-4 to end the match.

Lehigh has completed the regular season, and will have a week off to rest up before they go back to Philadelphia for the 100th edition of the EIWAs on March 6-7.

Lehigh 24 – Penn 9

Lehigh 33 – Drexel 9