Lehigh 30 Navy 13

No. 8 Lehigh Too Much for Navy Grapplers
    ANNAPOLIS, Md. -  The eighth-ranked Lehigh wrestling team won seven bouts, including each of the last five to earn a 30-13 victory over Navy Saturday night at Halsey Field House.  Though Navy jumped out to a 13-12 lead after the first five matches, a pin by 14th-ranked Mike Galante at 165 pounds put the momentum back in Lehigh's corner as the Mountain Hawks improved to 16-1 on the year and the Mids dropped to 5-5.

“We competed hard tonight,” said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett.  “We continue to be plagued by injuries, but we just continue to plug away.  I'm really proud of them and how they fought.  Our guys won't quit!”

Allan Stein (Portland, Maine) gave the Mids the early lead in the match when the sophomore 125-pounder scored a 17-8 major decision over Lehigh's Mitch Berger.  Stein produced eight takedowns during the match, but never gave up a takedown of his own.

However, Navy's 4-0 was quickly erased when rookie Tyler Sackett (Omaha, Neb.) succumbed to a leg injury just 36 seconds into his match against Lehigh's Matt Fisk at 133 pounds and was forced to give up the six-point medical forfeit.

Lehigh extended its lead to 12-4 when junior 141-pounder Seth Ciasulli managed to get Navy rookie John Majka's (Chicago, Ill.) shoulder to the mat.  Leading Majka 9-1 in the third period, Ciasulli got the pin with just four seconds remaining in the bout.

For the second night in a row, fans were treated to a fantastic match between a pair of ranked wrestlers at 149 pounds.  Fifth-ranked Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) was coming off a heart-breaking overtime loss to American's Kyle Borshoff, ranked No. 12, but had little time to dwell as his opponent Saturday night was against 14th-ranked Trevor Chinn.

After a scoreless opening period, Chinn was the first to put points up on the board, first with an escape, followed by a takedown 11 seconds later.  Saddoris was able to get away and narrow the deficit to two at the end of two.  Saddoris got to within one with 1:24 remaining thanks to an escape, but with under a minute to go, he needed a takedown to get the win.  The returning NCAA〓qualifier went for it all and it paid off as he charged at Chinn and put him on his back to score the pin with just 45 seconds left in the match.

“I thought he was a little more tired than I was, so I just went after it and pancaked him down to the mat,” said Saddoris, who improved to 31-3 this season including a 9-1 mark in duals.

Navy took the lead for the second time in the evening when junior Glenn Shober (Reading, Pa.) posted a 7-4 victory over Sean Bilodeau at 157 pounds. After Bilodeau escaped to open the final period, the score was knotted at three apiece.  Shober scored a takedown with 50 seconds remaining to take the lead, but Bilodeau was able to scramble out with 30 seconds to go.  With a 5-4 advantage, Shober, who needed a takedown after Bilodeau had built up riding time, continued to battle his Lehigh foe and with 23 seconds remaining, he brought him to the mat for the takedown and erased any opportunity for Bilodeau to steal a point off riding time.  The Mids now held a 13-12 advantage midway through the match.

The turn in momentum started taking shape at 165 pounds when Galante not only took Navy sophomore Matt DeMichiel (Whitesboro, N.Y.) to the mat, he held him there and eventually scored the pin with just four seconds remaining in the opening period.

The Mids' Robby Neill (Brick, N.J.) came up short in his shot at upsetting a ranked foe at 174 pounds, as he dropped a 2-1 (TB) decision in overtime to No. 14 Alex Caruso.  Both wrestlers earned a point for escapes during regulation, but it was Caruso who was the lone wrestler to get free in the two tie-breaker periods.

Lehigh's David Craig earned a 5-2 decision over Navy senior Casey Caldwell (Liberty, Ind.) at 184 pounds, while Joe Kennedy managed to get by the Mids' Philip Neese (Lexington, S.C.) thanks to 1:03 in riding time (2-1) at 197 pounds.  Lehigh closed out the match with its seventh win of the night, an 8-3 Zach Rey win over Tyler Moyer (Bremerton, Wash.) at heavyweight.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to the state of North Carolina for a pair of duals.  Navy faces North Carolina in Chapel Hill at 1:00 pm before making the 30-minute drive to Raleigh to battle NC State.

#8 Lehigh 30, Navy 13
125 - Allan Stein (N) major Mitch Berger (L), 17-8
133 - Matt Fisk (L) def. Tyler Sackett (N), medical forfeit (0:36)
141 - Seth Ciasulli (L) fall John Majka (N), 6:56
149 - #5 Bryce Saddoris (N) fall #14 Trevor Chinn (L), 6:15
157 - Glenn Shober (N) dec. Sean Bilodeau (L), 7-4
165 - #14 Mike Galante (L) fall Matt DeMichiel (N), 2:56
174 - #14 Alex Caruso (L) dec. Robby Neill (N), 2-1 TB
184 - David Craig (L) dec. Casey Caldwell (N), 5-2
197 - Joe Kennedy (L) dec. Philip Neese (N), 2-1
HWT - Zach Rey (L) dec. Tyler Moyer (N), 8-3