Junior Gordon Wolf's technical fall victory at 165 put Lehigh in front for good and sophomore Jordan Kutler and Ryan Preisch followed with wins by major decision at 174 and 184, respectively to give Lehigh a 19-10 lead with two bouts remaining.
Lehigh overcame a sluggish start for the second straight dual but finishes the dual season at 12-3.
"Pitt has been a much better team as the year has gone on," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "Keith (Gavin) and his staff are doing a great job. I was a little concerned coming in. I knew there would be a lot of tight matches. We ended up being on the losing end of a few of those, so we have a few things to work on here."
2/18/2018 Lehigh Wrestling vs Pitt Lehigh Wrestling vs Pitt
Pitt finishes the dual season at 4-11 and had its two dual winning streak snapped.
Sunday was also Senior Day at Grace Hall, with the Mountain Hawks honoring their five-member senior class. The only Lehigh senior to compete on Sunday was Darian Cruz, who saw his offense stymied but managed to defeat LJ Bentley 1-0 in the opening bout at 125. A second period escape was the only point of the match as Cruz used strong defense and positioning to close out the final period.
Cruz finishes the regular season at 22-0, becoming the first Mountain Hawk to finish the regular season unbeaten since Zach Rey in 2010-11. He also passed Steve Cassidy for sixth place on Lehigh's career wins list with 112.
Pitt evened things up at 133 as Dom Forys edged Scott Parker 7-6 in a battle of ranked wrestlers. Forys won the takedown battle 2-1 and pulled ahead for good with a third period escape that broke a 6-6 tie. The Panthers took their first lead at 141 as Nick Zanetta dealt freshman Luke Karam his second loss of the weekend 6-1. Karam led 1-0 in the third period when Zanetta scored a takedown and added a late tilt for four near fall points.
Junior Cortlandt Schuyler evened the team score at 6-6 with a 4-3 win over Robert Lee at 149, with Schuyler using a second period takedown and third period reversal to three escapes for the Panther. Taleb Rahmani's 15-7 major decision over junior Ian Brown at 157 gave Pitt the 10-6 lead at the break.
"We're scratching our heads a bit at the first five because they were our hammers early in the year," Santoro said. "We'll figure it out, but right now we're not doing the little things well. We're not pushing the pace. We're not hand fighting. We're not mat returning or trying to ride guys those first five weights. That makes a difference. You have to put multiple attacks together. That's the technical part. From a mental part we just need to get tougher in those positions."
As it went down in Friday's 31-4 win over Oklahoma it was Wolf awakening the Mountain Hawks and the Grace Hall crowd. A pair of first period takedowns, combined with four point near falls staked Wolf to a 12-1 lead after three minutes. Wolf added reversals in the second and third periods and after a penalty point for unnecessary roughness, closed out the technical fall with a takedown with 1:05 left in the third period to defeat Jake Wenzel 19-4.
"He went out there and said 'Don't worry, I've got this,'" Santoro said of Wolf. "He did a great job and ignited the crowd."
Kutler gave Lehigh some cushion with a five takedown performance in a 14-4 major decision over Austin Bell at 174. Kutler added an escape, two penalty points and over three minutes of riding time advantage to secure his 20th victory of the season.
Preisch made it three straight bonus wins to open the second half, defeating Gregg Harvey by a 10-1 major at 184. Preisch scored takedowns late in each of the first two periods, and added a takedown and two point near fall in the third to secure the bonus point.
Freshman Chris Weiler made it four straight wins for the Mountain Hawks with a 3-1 decision over Kellan Stout at 197. Weiler scored the early takedown of the bout in the first period, and after being ridden out in the second, with several reversal attempts stalemated, rode out the third period himself to secure riding time advantage.
The final bout of the dual season did not lack drama as freshman heavyweight Jordan Wood trailed Ryan Solomon on riding time with under a minute to go in the third period, but after several shots forced a stall warning against Solomon, Wood finally was able to convert a takedown and rode out to erase the time advantage in a 3-1 decision.
"He's been right there all year in these big matches," Santoro said of Wood. "For him to get that one was really big. His effort is always A-plus and he's finally seeing the rewards, which is big for him."
The Mountain Hawks will now shift focus to the EIWA Championships, hosted by Hofstra, March 3-4 from the Mack Sports Complex in Hempstead, N.Y.
Results:
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) dec. LJ Bentley (Pitt) 1-0
133 – Dom Forys (Pitt) dec. Scott Parker (Lehigh) 7-6
141 – Nick Zanetta (Pitt) dec. Luke Karam (Lehigh) 6-1
149 – Cortlandt Schuyler (Lehigh) dec. Robert Lee (Pitt) 4-3
157 – Taleb Rahmani (Pitt) major dec. Ian Brown (Lehigh) 15-7
165 – Gordon Wolf (Lehigh) tech fall Jake Wenzel (Pitt) 19-4, 5:55
174 – Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) major dec. Austin Bell (Pitt) 14-4
184 – Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) major dec. Gregg Harvey (Pitt) 10-1
197 – Chris Weiler (Lehigh) dec. Kellan Stout (Pitt) 3-1
285 – Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec. Ryan Solomon (Pitt) 3-1
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