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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A spirited crowd of over 4,600 saw No. 11 Lehigh take to the mat for the first time in 2006, but without several starters the Mountain Hawks could not get past No. 12 Penn State as the Nittany Lions won 24-12 Friday night at Stabler Arena. Lehigh could only muster four wins in six matches, as Penn State scored bonus points in four of six wins to drop the Mountain Hawks to 5-3-1 on the season. The Nittany Lions are now 6-2.

The match started at 149 and Lehigh freshman Trevor Chinn scored two early takedowns on Penn State’s James Woodall, but the sixth year senior used his experience to catch Chinn on his back and pinned him to give the Lions a 6-0 lead. Another tight bout followed at 157 between Derek Zinck and Nathan Galloway. Like their previous meeting the bout went to overtime and this time, Zinck was able to score a reversal in the second 30 second period to get the 3-1 victory.

Penn State picked up another bonus win at 165 as freshman David Erwin scored a major decision over Dave Nakasone who was subbing for the injured Troy Letters. Lehigh got another three point win at 174 as Travis Frick avenged an early loss to James Yonushonis with a 3-2 decision.

At 184 David Helfrich gave top-ranked Eric Bradley a battle, but the Nittany Lion senior was able to muster a tough 5-2 decision in his season opener.

Junior Matt Cassidy was next at 197 and for the second time this year he upset a top ten grappler in front of the Stabler faithful. This time Cassidy scored a first period takedown and was able to hold on for a 3-2 decision over the Lions’ sixth ranked Phil Davis.

Penn State broke things open in the next three bouts with three straight wins, two by major decision, before Cory Cooperman won the finale for the Brown and White 9-3 over DeWitt Driscoll.

The loss was just the second for Lehigh at Stabler Arena since 2002. The Mountain Hawks had won 13 of their last 14 duals inside Stabler.

The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Saturday with a pair of duals in Michigan. Lehigh will wrestle No. 5 Michigan in Ann Arbor at 2:00 and then will battle Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti at 5:00. The Michigan dual will be broadcast via tape delay at 4:45 on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320.

Attendance – 4,636

Referee – Jake Llewellyn

Photo © 2006 Lehigh Athletics/Jeff Nolan