Lehigh Jumps Out To Big Lead, Holds Off Cornell
January 13, 2019

 


BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Lehigh jumped out to a 13-0 lead after three matches and survived with an overtime victory in the dual's final match to upset No. 7 Cornell 19-16 on Saturday afternoon at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The loss dropped the Big Red to 5-2, while the Mountain Hawks, ranked in the top five in some preseason polls, improved to 3-7.

Both teams won five matches apiece, but a first minute injury default in the very first match of the day put the Big Red in a hole it never fully recovered from. With a pair of nationally-ranked grapplers on the shelf for the matchup of traditional EIWA rivals, the Big Red couldn't get over the hump despite a number of key and impressive wins.

The dual started at 157 pounds, and Cornell wasn't able to grab its first win until 184 when Max Dean won a hard-fought 8-4 contest over Chris Weiler. Ben Honis then topped No. 15 Jake Jakobsen 6-2 at 197 to get the visitors back within 13-6 in the team score at halftime.

No. 7 Jordan Wood of Lehigh overcame an early 5-0 deficit to pick up a high scoring 17-12 decision at heavyweight over Jeramy Sweany as the Mountain Hawks built its lead back to 16-6, but Cornell answered with three straight victories, including a major decision by Vitali Arujau at 125 t0 even the team score at 16-16 entering the final match. Chas Tucker topped a ranked Brandon Paetzell 8-4 at 133, and defending national champion Yianni Diakomihalis claimed a 13-7 victory over Ryan Pomrinca.

The final match pitted seniors Jonathan Furnas of Cornell and Cortlandt Schuyler of Lehigh. Neither wrestler could score in regulation, other than dueling escapes, with Furnas the aggressor. He nearly finished a pair of shots before Schuyler outlasted the Big Red wrestler in sudden victory, picking up the takedown with 20 seconds remaining before the rideout period.

The loss snapped a 12-match road win streak for the Big Red and is just the second against an unranked opponent dating back to the 2007 season.

...

Lehigh 19, Cornell 16
157: #17 Josh Humphreys (L) won by injury default over Fredy Stroker (C), 0:51
165: Gordon Wolf (L) won by decision over Adam Santoro (C), 10-6
174: #7 Jordan Kutler (L) won by major decision over Andrew Berreyesa (C), 13-4
184: #10 Max Dean (C) won by decision over Chris Weiler (L), 8-4
197: #20 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over #15 Jake Jakobsen (L), 6-2
285: #7 Jordan Wood (L) won by decision over Jeramy Sweany (C), 17-12
125: #11 Vitali Arujau (C) won by major decision over Luke Resnick (L), 18-6
133: #13 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over Brandon Paetzell (L), 8-4
141: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (C) won by decision over Ryan Pomrinca (L), 13-7
149: Cortlandt Schuyler (L) won by decision over Jonathan Furnas (C), 3-1 (sv1)





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