Posted: January 29, 2005
Bethlehem, PA – No. 5 Lehigh swept a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon over EIWA foes Brown and Harvard in front of 1,783 in attendance at Grace Hall.
The Brown and White first defeated the Bears of Brown 27-10 and then followed that up with a dominant 37-12 decision over the Crimson of Harvard.
Matt Anderson scored a pair of major decisions for the Brown and White at two different weights, while Jon Bruno won by decision in his first bout and then dazzled the home crowd with a pin in a time of just 41 seconds.
In the match vs. Brown, the Mountain Hawks took the first five bouts, earning bonus points in four of the five. The match started at 133, where Matt Ciasulli scored an escape and a takedown in the third period to top Brown’s Dan Appello. Cory Cooperman would start the parade of bonus points by pinning Ross Johnson. Then Anderson, Derek Zinck and Troy Letters followed up with major decisions, as Lehigh led 21-0 at the halfway point.
Brown would win its first bout as Mike Pedro scored a 6-2 decision over Lehigh’s Bryan Bernal, who earned his first start of the season at 174. Doran Heist then made it two straight for the Bears as he defeated Matt Cassidy at 184, 5-3. Bruno got the Mountain Hawks back on the winning track with an 11-6 decision over Leo Saniuk at 197 pounds, to put the home team in front 24-3 and Tom Curl followed that up with a 4-3 decision of his own over Lee Beane at 285 pounds. In the final bout of the match, Brown’s Jeff Schell scored a major decision over Andrew Rizzi 12-2, but Lehigh already had the match in hand.
In the second match of the day, Matt Ciasulli got things started for the Mountain Hawks with a pin of Brent Kakesako just 44 seconds into the bout, putting Lehigh up 6-0 right from the start. The Crimson got on the board in the next match as Mike Baria scored an 8-1 decision over Mark McCauley at 141 pounds to slice the Brown and White’s lead in half to 6-3. Sophomore David Nakasone upped the Mountain Hawks lead to 9-3 with a 6-3 decision over Dominic DeNunzio at 149 pounds, and Anderson followed with an 8-0 major decision at 157. Troy Letters and Travis Frick then earned victories by forfeit at 165 and 174 pounds respectively and Lehigh was in control at 25-3.
David Helfrich and Bruno then followed with consecutive pins in a combined time of 1:33 and the Mountain Hawks had a 37-3 advantage. Jonas Corl then stopped the bleeding momentarily for Harvard with a 3-2 decision over Tom Curl at heavyweight to make the score 37-6 in favor of the Brown and White. Robbie Preston then ended the match with a pin of Andrew Rizzi at 125 pounds to make the final score 37-12.
Lehigh returns to action next Saturday, February 5 when the Mountain Hawks travel to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on former Lehigh assistant Pat Santoro and his Maryland Terrapins at 4:00, and then the host Virginia Cavaliers at 7:00. The Virginia match can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1230 AM and 1320 AM as well as lehighsports.com with streaming audio provided by Yahoo! Sports. Steve Lomangino will provide the commentary.
Lehigh 27 Brown 10
Weight | Match-up | Result | | Score |
133 | Matt Ciasulli (LU) | Dec. | Dan Appello (BU) | 3-0 |
141 | Cory Cooperman (LU) | WBF | Ross Johnson (BU) | 1:31 |
149 | Matt Anderson (LU) | Maj. dec. | Tim Smith (BU) | 8-0 |
157 | Derek Zinck (LU) | Maj. dec. | David Saadeh (BU) | 21-8 |
165 | Troy Letters (LU) | Maj. dec. | Heath Lohrman (BU) | 14-4 |
174 | Mike Pedro (BU) | Dec. | Bryan Bernal (LU) | 6-2 |
184 | Doran Heist (BU) | Dec. | Matt Cassidy (LU) | 5-3 |
197 | Jon Bruno (LU) | Dec. | Leo Saniuk (BU) | 11-6 |
285 | Tom Curl (LU) | Dec. | Lee Beane (BU) | 4-3 |
125 | Jeff Schell (BU) | Maj. Dec. | Andrew Rizzi (LU) | 12-2 |
Lehigh 37 Harvard 12
Weight | Match-up | Result | | Score |
133 | Matt Ciasulli (LU) | WBF | Brent Kakesako (HU) | :44 |
141 | Michael Baria (HU) | Dec. | Mark McCauley (LU) | 8-1 |
149 | David Nakasone (LU) | Dec. | Dominic DeNunzio (HU) | 6-3 |
157 | Matt Anderson (LU) | Maj. dec. | Matt Button (HU) | 8-0 |
165 | Troy Letters (LU) | W | Forfeit | |
174 | Travis Frick (LU) | W | Forfeit | |
184 | David Helfrich (LU) | WBF | Billy Colgan (HU) | :52 |
197 | Jon Bruno (LU) | WBF | Andrew Dane (HU) | :41 |
285 | Jonas Corl (HU) | Dec. | Tom Curl (LU) | 3-2 |
125 | Robbie Preston (HU) | WBF | Andrew Rizzi (LU) | 2:08 |
Attendance - 1,783
Photo Copyright 2005, Lehigh Athletics, Jeff Nolan