Eastern wrestling rivals invade PSU
Friday, January 07, 2005
BY ANDY ELDER
For The Patriot-News
UNIVERSITY PARK – For Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland, the annual dual meet with old-time rival Lehigh is almost a no-win proposition.
If the No. 16 Nittany Lions win tonight at 7:30 in Rec Hall, fans will say they were supposed to. If the No. 6 Mountain Hawks win, fans ask why big ol’ State can’t beat lil’ ol’ Lehigh.
“I always hear about how little Lehigh beats up on Penn State, “Sunderland said. “Any time any school in the East can beat Penn State it’s a big deal.”
That was the case on Nov. 14 at the inaugural Pennsylvania State Dual Championship as then-No. 2 Lehigh defeated then-No. 17 Penn State, 24-15.
But in three of the past four years, Lehigh has entered the dual meet the higher-ranked team only to watch Penn State win.
“I throw the rankings out the window when we wrestle certain teams. Penn State would be one; Cornell and Penn would be two others, “Lehigh coach Greg Strobel said.
“When we wrestle those teams we say, ‘Who cares where we’re ranked? It will be a battle.'”
“Penn State has proven over the last nine years it doesn’t matter where Lehigh is ranked. We’ve only beaten Penn State twice at their place (on Strobel’s watch). There’s definitely a home-mat advantage. We’ll have to come into the match on fire.”
Lehigh will come in with two new wrestlers. Andrew Rizzi (125 pounds) and Matt Ciasulli (No. 10 at 133) both won elimination bouts this week and will be in the lineup.
Penn State also has a lineup change. At 133, Bryan Heller will wrestle instead of Tim Haas, the former state champ from Cedar Cliff. Haas underwent knee surgery Thursday for a torn ACL.
Sunderland said Haas can’t pinpoint exactly when the injury occurred.
“He hurt his knee a little bit earlier in the season and had had some problems. The MRI [before Midlands] indicated a tear. The team physicians and trainer, Dan Monthley, didn’t feel it was a complete tear, “Sunderland said.
SUNDAY DOUBLE DUAL:
West Virginia and Pittsburgh visit Rec Hall on Sunday for dual meets. No. 12 WVU meets Penn State at 1 p.m., and No. 25 Pitt follows at 3 p.m.
West Virginia features five ranked wrestlers. Pittsburgh has just three.
Against the Mountaineers, the marquee matchup will come at 184, where No. 1 Greg Jones will tangle with No. 6 Nittany Lion Eric Bradley. Another key bout is at 157, where WVU’s seventh-ranked Matt Lebe will take on No. 11 Nit-tany Lion Nate Galloway.
Penn State will be looking to avenge a couple of losses from November’s Mat Town USA Invitational in the dual meet with the Panthers.
No. 18 DeWitt Driscoll dropped a 9-2 decision to Pitt’s Ron Tarquinio, who is ranked No. 5. And, at 149, Nittany Lion James Woodall, ranked No. 11, will look to avenge a 4-0 loss to No. 16 Matt Kocher
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