Lehighsports.com

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Lehigh and Army split ten bouts on Sunday but bonus wins at 125 and 141 carried the Black Knights to an 18-15 win Sunday at Christl Arena. The Mountain Hawks entered the final bout of the evening needing a fall from sophomore Mike Galante at 165 to earn a tie, but Galante could only muster a 13-8 decision over Chris Grill, as Lehigh suffers its first EIWA loss of the season and falls to 11-13 overall (6-1 EIWA).

“I was hoping for a 5-5 split,” said Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel. “I was hoping we could pick up bonus points and stop them from doing so but their 125 and 141 pound guys proved to be too much.”

The dual began at 174 with freshman Alex Caruso scoring a takedown off the opening whistle in a 3-2 win over Ryan Mergen. From there, the Black Knights captured four straight wins, including a technical fall from Fernando Martinez over freshman Mitch Berger at 125, to take a 14-3 lead at intermission.

Sophomore Seth Ciasulli opened the second half of the dual with a 5-0 win over Whitt Dunning as the Mountain Hawks won four of the final five bouts, but could not match the bonus points provided by Martinez’s technical fall and a 20-7 major decision by Matt Kyler over senior Jeff Santo at 141. Trailing by 12 with three bouts remaining, Lehigh received back to back wins by decision from junior Trevor Chinn and senior Dave Nakasone at 149 and 157 respectively, opening the door for Galante to try and earn a tie with a fall. Galante was unable to line-up  a big move and settled for a 13-8 decision, which gave the Black Knights (12-5, 7-1 EIWA) their first win over Lehigh since 1991.

“Effort-wise, I thought we were very good,” added Strobel. “We really went after them out there today, but that’s really a tough team on the other side.”

The Mountain Hawks will wrap-up their regular season on Sunday February 24 with two duals in Philadelphia. Lehigh will visit Penn and 1 p.m. and then head down the street to face Drexel at 4 p.m. Both duals will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com, with the Penn match also airing locally on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 beginning at 12:45.

          Referee – Matt Sorochinsky