No. 9 Lehigh rolls to 35-3 win at West Virginia
1/2/2009

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - Lehigh opened up the 2009 portion of its schedule in impressive fashion, winning the first nine bouts of the evening in a 35-3 rout of West Virginia Friday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountain Hawks enjoyed four bonus wins, including falls from freshman Zach Rey and junior Seth Ciasulli and major decisions from freshmen Sean Bilodeau and Joe Kennedy to win their eleventh straight dual meet to start the season.

“I didn't think we'd be in a position where we'd be 35-0,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “There were a handful of matches that were very close, low scoring and could have gone either way. We'll need to do a better job of going out and scoring more points, but we're getting there in terms of going out and getting better.”

On a night when scoring was hard to come by Bilodeau had three of Lehigh's eight takedowns on the night in an 8-0 victory over Ryan Goodman at 157.

West Virginia expected to have several of its starters back in the lineup, including Donnie Jones at 165, but Mike Galante was able to continue Lehigh's early momentum with a 4-1 victory. Sophomore Alex Caruso and junior David Craig followed with wins by decision to run the Lehigh lead to 13-0.

At 197, Kennedy rolled to an 8-0 major decision over Brandon Boyer without the benefit of a takedown. Leading 1-0 at the start of the third period, Kennedy tilted Boyer for three early in the period and added another three-point near fall in the final seconds. Riding time advantage accounted for the final points.

Rey picked up his second pin of the season, decking 17th-ranked Dustin Rogers in the third period. Tied 1-1 in the final period Rey converted a single leg takedown and when Rogers tried to scramble out Rey caught Rogers on his back, securing the fall in 5:58.

Lehigh took the next two bouts by decision, as sophomore Mitch Berger, filling in for freshman John McDonald, held off Kyle Turnbull 2-1 at 125 and Matt Fisk mustered a 2-0 win over Tyler Oravec at 133.

At 141 Ciasulli broke a string of seven straight scoreless first periods with a first period takedown of Colin Johnston. Ciasulli eventually worked Johnston over with a half-nelson and earned his second fall of the season in 2:33.

The final bout of the night was the much anticipated battle between seniors Trevor Chinn and David Jauregui. Chinn scored the opening takedown and led 3-2 in the final seconds before he was penalized for stalling. The match went into the tiebreakers where each grappler mustered an escape, but Jauregui converted a takedown, the Mountaineers' only takedown of the match in the final seconds to win 6-4.

The Mountain Hawks will return to the mats on Sunday when they travel to State College, Pa. for the 97th meeting in one of eastern wrestling's oldest and most intense rivalries as Lehigh faces off against No. 16 Penn State. The match gets underway at 1 p.m. and it can be seen live on Service Electric 2 Sports, Fox College Sports Pacific and online at Lehighsports.com.

157 Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) maj. dec. Ryan Goodman (WVU) 8-0
165 Mike Galante (Lehigh) dec. Donnie Jones (WVU) 4-1
174 Alex Caruso (Lehigh) dec. Kurt Brenner (WVU) 2-0
184 David Craig (Lehigh) dec. Lance Bryson (WVU) 4-1
197 Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) maj. dec. Brandon Boyer (WVU) 8-0
285 Zach Rey (Lehigh) Fall Dustin Rogers (WVU) 5:58
125 Mitch Berger (Lehigh) dec. Kyle Turnbull (WVU) 2-1
133 Matt Fisk (Lehigh) dec. Tyler Oravec (WVU) 2-0
141 Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) Fall Colin Johnston (WVU) 2:33
149 David Jauregui (WVU) dec. Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) 6-4, t.b.