Fifth ranked Lehigh rallies past No. 11 Cornell
Bethlehem, PA “Lehigh rallied from a six-nothing deficit and picked up two major decisions en route to a 20-12 victory over No. 11 Cornell at Leeman-Turner Arena inside Grace Hall on Friday night. The win propels fifth-ranked Lehigh to 11-1 on the season in dual meet competition (2-0 EIWA), while the Big Red falls to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in EIWA action.
After dropping the first two bouts of the night, the Mountain Hawks got on the scoreboard at 141 when Cory Cooperman picked up a convincing 8-2 win over Cornell’s Jordan Lee. That decision cut the Big Red’s lead in half at 6-3.
Trailing 9-3 entering the bout at 157, Lehigh’s Derek Zinck rolled to a 17-8 major decision over Cornell’s John Cholish to make the score 9-7. Zinck’s victory was one of three straight for Lehigh, as Troy Letters (165) and Travis Frick (174) also picked up wins as the Mountain Hawks went ahead for good.
Cornell picked up a win at 184, but Lehigh won the final two bouts to seal the win.
“I was pleased with the way we wrestled as a group tonight,” said Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel following the victory.
When asked about two fill-ins, Strobel explained he was more than satisfied with their effort, despite the setbacks. “I thought Dave [Helfrich] and [David] Nakasone wrestled very well tonight,” he pointed out.
There is no rest for Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks are right back in action Saturday night against another top 25 squad. No. 5 Lehigh will visit No. 20 Navy on Saturday night. That match will get underway at 7:00 from Alumni Hall in Annapolis, with exclusive audio coverage on lehighsports.com powered by Yahoo! Sports. Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell will call the action live.
Lehigh 20, Cornell 12
Weight
Match-up
Result
Score
125
Mike Mormile (C)
dec.
Andrew Rizzi (L)
12-6
133
Travis Lee (C)
dec.
Matt Ciasulli (L)
5-1
141
Cory Cooperman (L)
dec.
Jordan Lee (C)
8-2
149
Dustin Manotti (C)
dec.
David Nakasone (L)
10-4
157
Derek Zinck (L)
maj. dec.
John Cholish (C)
17-8
165
Troy Letters (L)
dec.
Joey Hooker (C)
7-2
174
Travis Frick (L)
dec.
Joe Mazzurco (C)
6-3
184
Tyler Baier (C)
dec.
Dave Helfrich (L)
6-0
197
Jon Trenge (L)
maj. dec.
Jerry Rinaldi (C)
10-2
285
Paul Weibel (L)
dec.
Matt Bogumil (C)
7-3
Referee “Joe Bartell
Attendance “2,008
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