Juniors Mason Beckman and Nathaniel Brown led the way with two pins apiece for the Mountain Hawks, who sit in second place after day one with 88 points, seven behind front-running Cornell.
“We’ve seen the NCAA Tournament won on bonus points the last three or four years,” Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. “Bonus points are big in tournaments. If we can continue to do that tomorrow that would be great.
“They’ve been doing it all year,” Santoro added about Beckman and Brown. “They’ve been consistent all year. They’re starting to wrestle their best this time of year and that’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we always look for.”
Beckman opened the day with a quick 14 second fall over Joe Nelson of Binghamton, the fourth fastest fall in school history. In the quarterfinals, Beckman built a 13-0 lead before locking up a cradle and pinning Travis Passaro of Hofstra in 6:22. The top seed at 133, Beckman will face No. 4 seed Mark Grey of Cornell in one of three Lehigh-Cornell battles in the semifinals.
Brown was equally impressive, pinning Alex DeCiantis of Drexel in 2:32 and then scoring an early third period pin against Columbia’s Zack Hernandez at 184. In the semifinals, the second seeded Brown will face No. 6 seed Thomas Sleigh of Bucknell.
The Mountain Hawks started the day with a bang as freshman Scott Parker and Beckman opened with first period pins before sophomore Randy Cruz posted a 13-0 major decision over Anthony Finocchiaro of Brown.
Parker advanced to the semifinals with a fall in 1:09 against Penn’s Jeremy Schwartz at 125. The No. 4 seed then beat No. 5 Billy Watterson of Brown to set up a semifinal match with top seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell.
After his major decision win over Finocchiaro, Cruz reached the semis at 141 scoring a late takedown to knock off the No. 6 seed Logan Everett of Army 3-1. Cruz, the No. 3 seed, will face No. 2 seed Jamel Hudson of Hofstra.
Lehigh’s four other semifinalists came at the final four weight classes. At 174, senior Santiago Martinez survived a battle against Drexel’s Stephen Loiseau with a late takedown to win 5-3 before dominating sixth-seeded Shane Hughes of Columbia, using two big throws to score seven second period points in a 13-3 major decision. Next up for Martinez is the No. 2 seed Brian Harvey of Army.
Third-seeded sophomores Elliot Riddick and Doug Vollaro reached the semifinals at 197 and heavyweight, respectively. At 197, Riddick’s day began with an 8-3 win over Gus Marker of Brown before posting a 12-2 major decision over Tyler Lyster of Bucknell. Riddick will next face Cornell’s Jace Bennett in the semifinals, hoping the third meeting this season will be the charm.
Vollaro started fast, pinning Chris McDermand of American in just 50 seconds in the opening round. Hofstra’s Mike Hughes pushed Vollaro into overtime in the quarterfinals, but Vollaro rode out the first half of the first tiebreaker period then escaped and added a late takedown to win 4-1. Vollaro will face No. 2 seed and defending EIWA Champion Joe Stolfi of Bucknell in the semifinals.
Lehigh went 9-1 in the first round with freshman Drew Longo suffering the only defeat, an 8-2 loss to top seed Chris Villalonga of Cornell at 149. Longo battled back through the consolations, beating the No. 8 and No. 7 seeds by major decision to stay alive.
Sophomore Mitch Minotti suffered the biggest upset loss for the Mountain Hawks, as the No. 2 seed at 157 was edged 3-2 by seventh-seeded Noel Blanco of Drexel in the quarterfinals at 157. Blanco scored the decisive takedown late in the third period. Minotti won his first consolation bout 4-1 over Binghamton’s Vincent Deprez.
At 165, senior Marshall Peppelman won a wild 13-10 match over Rob Schlitt of Bucknell but dropped a 12-2 major decision to Coleman Gracey of Army in the quarterfinals. The sixth-seeded Peppelman remained alive after pinning Sacred Heart’s Matt Fischer in just 17 seconds.
“Placing ten is big but we have a long way to go,” Santoro said. “Tomorrow is a big round. There will be a lot of points scored in the semis, a lot of points scored in the wrestlebacks. Tomorrow we’re going to find out if we can win this thing. We need to wrestle well in the semifinals. We need to get a good night’s sleep tonight and come back ready to go tomorrow.”
The 111th EIWA Championships continue Saturday at 10 a.m. from Stabler Arena with the championship semifinals, third round of consolations, consolation semifinals and seventh place matches. The final session, featuring matches for first, third and fifth, will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction at 5 p.m. Audio coverage of the finals session will be available on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 while video coverage for all of Saturday’s bouts will be available via Flowrestling.
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