Lehighsports.com

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – No. 20 Pittsburgh picked up its first win over Lehigh in ten years, winning seven bouts in a 24-9 win over the Mountain Hawks in the season opener for both teams Sunday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Freshman Alex Caruso made his varsity dual debut, pushing top-ranked Keith Gavin into overtime before falling 4-2, while juniors Kevin Vinh, Trevor Chinn and sophomore Mike Galante picked up wins for the Brown and White.

Junior Brad Gentzle gave the Panthers a 6-0 lead with a second period pin of Lehigh freshman Mitch Berger, who was making his varsity dual debut. Berger actually led 4-3 in the second period, before Gentzle scored a takedown and secured the fall with a cradle in 4:37.

Vinh gave Lehigh its first win on the dual season, scoring a pair of first period takedowns in holding off Jimmy Conroy 7-6 at 133. After Drew Headlee defeated senior Jeff Santo 7-2 at 141 Chinn started strong, and then rebounded from a pair of third period stalling calls against him with a late takedown to defeat Joey Ecklof 7-6 at 149.

At 157, senior Dave Nakasone fell behind early against fourth ranked Matt Kocher, before rebounding with a pair of third-period takedowns, including one at the final buzzer to avoid yielding a major decision in a 12-6 loss, which put Lehigh behind 12-6 at the halfway point.

Galante delivered Lehigh’s final win of the afternoon, securing a pair of takedowns in a 6-2 win over Sean Richmond at 165.

Caruso followed with a thrilling performance against the defending NCAA Finalist at 174. The wrestlers were tied at one after regulation, with Caruso doing well to scramble out of several takedown events from Gavin. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Gavin escaped in the first tiebreaker period, then Caruso did the same in the second, but Gavin secured the winning takedown with twos second remaining in the second tiebreaker period.

At 184 sophomore David Craig returned from his knee injury to face Dave Sullivan. Craig scored the first takedown, but was reversed by Sullivan in the first and second periods, and fell 6-2.

Pittsburgh sealed the dual victory at 197 as A.J. Hunte capitalized on a takedown, two-point near fall combination early in the first period, before holding off sophomore Alex Iacocca 5-3. The final bout saw Zach Sheaffer score a pair of takedowns, plus a pair of penalty points for stalling, and riding time in a 7-0 shutout of sophomore Justin Allen.

The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Friday night when they head to Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the 14th-ranked Cornhuskers. The match gets underway at 8:30 p.m. (EST) from the NU Coliseum.

Attendance – 1,805

Referee – Gary Kessel