The victory improves Lehigh's record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 against EIWA foes. Princeton falls to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the EIWA. The 34-3 final margin matched the score of last year's Lehigh win over Princeton in New Jersey.
"Overall it was a good effort," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "They had four starters out which hurt them, obviously, but our effort was really good from all our guys. Guys were looking for bonus points and trying to score in the third period."
Lehigh started fast as junior Darian Cruz used a cradle and four point near fall plus two more four-point turns to lead Matteo DeVincenzo 14-0 after one period at 125. A second period takedown clinched a 16-0 technical fall and gave Lehigh an early 5-0 lead.
Sophomore Scott Parker followed with a solid 10-3 decision over Pat D'Arcy. Parker totaled four takedowns and registered 2:20 of advantage time, narrowly missing a major decision.
The featured bout of the dual matched third-ranked senior Randy Cruz against fourth-ranked Matthew Kolodzik at 141. Cruz opened the scoring with a takedown, just missing on a potential cradle and building up more than two minutes of advantage time to lead 2-0 after one period. Kolodzik came back with takedowns in the second and third periods, with Cruz netting two escapes, but Kolodzik was able to erase the riding time advantage. The match went to sudden victory tied 4-4 before Kolodzik secured the winning takedown to claim a 6-4 win.
Kolodzik's win would be the only one of the night for Princeton as Lehigh claimed the final seven bouts. Senior Laike Gardner started the run with a 14-3 major decision over Max Rogers, who was subbing for Jordan Laster at 149. Freshman Kent Lane then posted his first career dual meet win at 157, downing Mike D'Angelo 10-5 to give the Mountain Hawks a 15-3 lead at intermission.
At 165, junior Drew Longo gave up the first takedown against Francesco Fabozzi but dominated from there, racking up takedown after takedown, while also earning three penalty points for stalling. The end result was a 26-11 technical fall, which extended the Mountain Hawks' lead to 20-3.
"Drew always sets the example of how you want everybody to wrestle," Santoro said. "He goes hard for seven minutes and is always trying to put 20-plus points on the board each time out. He's fun to watch."
The bout at 174 was the second of three matching ranked wrestlers with sophomore Ryan Preisch scoring an early takedown and using a strong ride to set the tone against Jonathan Schleifer. Preisch added a second period escape and a third period takedown plus riding time to claim Lehigh's fourth straight win, 6-1.
Freshman Kyle Gentile proved that if there's time on the clock there's time to come back and win, in his bout with No. 17 Ian Baker at 184. Baker scored a takedown in the first period and proceeded to ride Gentile for 4:01, through the end of the second period. Gentile chose neutral to begin the third and scored a takedown to tie the bout at 2-2. He then used a tight waist tilt for a four point near fall to go in front 6-2. Gentile held on from there, yielding just the riding time point in a 6-3 victory.
"If there's time on the clock you can score points," Santoro said. "He wasn't out of it. You could see his focus was still there. We were trying to tell him to cut (Baker) but he felt like he could turn him, and he did. That's good awareness from a freshman."
At 197, senior Ben Haas delivered Lehigh's third technical fall victory, defeating Troy Murtha 20-5 in 6:11. Murtha was subbing for EIWA Champion and All-American Brett Harner.
The final bout of the dual matched ranked heavyweights as senior Doug Vollaro met Princeton's Ray O'Donnell. Tied 1-1 in the third, Vollaro scored the first regulation takedown in three dual meetings between the two grapplers. Leading 3-2 late, he picked up a second takedown to close out the dual with a 5-2 decision.
The Mountain Hawks will close out the fall semester on Sunday when they welcome No. 24 Drexel to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace hall for a 2 p.m. match. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com or prior to the match at Grace Hall.
Results:
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) tech fall Matteo DeVincenzo (Princeton) 16-0, 3:31
133 – Scott Parker (Lehigh) dec. Pat D'Arcy (Princeton) 10-3
141 – Matt Kolodzik (Princeton) dec. Randy Cruz (Lehigh) 6-4, sv
149 – Laike Gardner (Lehigh) major dec. Max Rogers (Princeton) 14-3
157 – Kent Lane (Lehigh) dec. Mike D'Angelo (Princeton) 10-5
165 – Drew Longo (Lehigh) tech fall Francesco Fabozzi (Princeton) 26-11, 6:55
174 – Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) dec. Jonathan Schleifer (Princeton) 6-1
184 – Kyle Gentile (Lehigh) dec. Ian Baker (Princeton) 6-3
197 – Ben Haas (Lehigh) tech fall Troy Murtha (Princeton) 20-5, 6:11
285 – Doug Vollaro (Lehigh) dec. Ray O'Donnell (Princeton) 5-2
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