No. 25 Wrestling Falls to No. 6 Lehigh, 34-12
1/8/2005
Zach Sheaffer earned a fall in his match at the heavyweight class on Saturday.
Results
PITTSBURGH “The Pittsburgh wrestling team ran into a very tough and physical Lehigh squad and dropped a 34-12 decision to the sixth-ranked Mountain Hawks in front of 1,079 fans at the Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday afternoon.
The No. 25 Panthers (1-2) only won two bouts, one by forfeit and a pin at the heavyweight class. The Mountain Hawks improved to 9-1 for the season.
In the first bout of the afternoon, Lehigh senior Andrew Rizzi was able to score a takedown in the first period and added five near-fall points for a 7-0 lead on Pittsburgh freshman Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan). After two stall points and three more near-fall points in the second period, Rizzi extended his lead to 12-0 after two frames. An escape point and another takedown finished the bout at the 5:49 mark for a tech fall victory and a 5-0 lead for the Mountain Hawks.
A top-10 battle at 133 pounds went Lehigh’s way from the start. 10th-ranked Matt Ciasulli scored an early takedown and added five near-fall points for a 7-0 first-period lead over sophomore Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg). Headlee wasn’t able to score in the second period but kept Ciasulli down for the entire two minutes. A late takedown and riding time added three points for Ciasulli, finishing a 10-0 victory for a 9-0 Lehigh lead in the meet.
At 141 pounds, two of the nation’s best went at it as No. 3 Cory Cooperman of Lehigh squared off against Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny), ranked fifth by InterMat. After Tarquinio scored a first-period takedown, Cooperman cut the lead in half with an escape point and added another escape in the second frame to tie it at 2-2. Cooperman scored a takedown but Tarquinio narrowed the lead to 4-3 with under a minute to go. Another late takedown by the Mountain Hawk junior extended it to a 6-3 advantage heading into the third period. A riding-time point in the final frame as Cooperman held on for the 7-3 win.
The two teams exchanged six points in forfeit wins by Pittsburgh sophomore Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) at 149 pounds and Lehigh junior Derek Zinck at 157 pounds to make it an 18-6 match in favor of the Mountain Hawks.
The nation’s No. 1 wrestler at 165 pounds, Troy Letters of Lehigh, scored a takedown in period one over Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds). After Nestor escaped in the second period, Letters scored another takedown for a 4-1 lead after five minutes. In the third period, Letters scored a reversal and five takedowns for a 17-6 major decision victory and a 22-6 lead in the bout.
Senior Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) fell behind by a 3-1 count with a takedown by Travis Frick and a tradeoff of escape points. Doll escaped in the third period to cut the lead to 3-2 but couldn’t get the winning takedown and Frick ended up with a decision.
The 184-pound battle featured cousins Matt Cassidy of Lehigh and Eric Cassidy (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny). Eric Cassidy scored the first takedown but Lehigh’s Cassidy scored five quick points on an escape, takedown and two near-fall points. An escape point by Eric Cassidy cut the lead to 5-3 and a takedown with just seven seconds remaining tied it at 5-5 heading into the second frame. Eric Cassidy was able to escape at the beginning of the second but Matt scored a takedown for a 7-6 advantage and then finished the match off with a pin at 4:01.
Lehigh added three more points in the 197-pound match when David Helfrich scored a 6-1 victory over Pittsburgh freshman Lou Thomas (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) to make it a 34-6 match. In the afternoon’s final bout, the Panthers’ freshman heavyweight Zachary Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) scored a pin at the 2:14 mark of the first period over Lehigh’s Paul Weibel to account for the final score of 34-12.
Pittsburgh will take on Penn State tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh.
Wrestling Gear
