Long Island Wrestling Association

The seventh-ranked Mountain Hawks of Lehigh University took decisions in seven of the ten weight classes on the way to a 25-9 victory over the 11th-ranked Hofstra Pride at Grace Hall Friday night. Lehigh recorded its sixth straight dual victory to improve to 18-3.  The Pride slipped to 12-5 in dual matches and saw their dual match winning streak stopped at five. Tom Noto, James Strouse and Chris Skretkowicz all posted victories for Hofstra.

With the match starting at 125, Lehigh's 12th-ranked Mario Stuart got an early takedown against No. 5 Tom Noto. But Noto fought back to get Hofstra on the board 7-5. Lehigh's Matt Ciasulli accepted a forfeit at 133 to put Lehigh in the lead 6-3. At 141, The Mountain Hawk's sixth-ranked Cory Cooperman took an easy 10-2 major decision over John Manarte.

Hofstra came right back at 149 with freshman James Strouse defeating Matt Anderson 7-1.  At 157, Derek Zinck returned to the mat after missing a couple weeks with a back injury, and he was successful in besting Chris Vondruska in a close 4-2 victory that saw only one takedown.

 In the highest-ranked match-up of the night, Lehigh's top-ranked Troy Letters defeated No. 5 Ralph Everett 8-2, getting three takedowns in the process.  Everett is the second-highest ranked opponent Letters has faced on the season, as he also defeated No. 4 Pat Owen of Michigan earlier in the season.

In the most intense wrestling of the night, No. 5 Brad Dillon squared off against Hofstra's 11th-ranked Noel Thompson at 174.  Dillon took an early lead with a takedown and three-point near fall, but then gave it right back with rare back points of his own.  With Thompson leading 7-5, Dillon executed another five-point maneuver, and reclaimed control to win 13-7. In another very close match at 184, Travis Frick used an escape and a penalty point for his opponent stalling to beat Brad Christie 2-1.

At 197, Hofstra picked up their third victory of the night as fifth-ranked Chris Skretkowicz shut out Matt Cassidy 8-0. It was Skretkowicz' 16th consecutive victory of the season and improved his record to 30-2 on the season. In the last match of the evening, Lehigh's Paul Weibel defeated Dan Garay at heavyweight by a 8-3 final in overtime, getting a takedown and three point near fall to win by sudden victory. Hofstra lost a point for unsportsmanlike conduct to end the match, giving the 25-9 final score.

Lehigh 25, Hofstra 9
125 - Tom Noto (HU) dec. Mario Stuart (LU), 7-5
133 - Matt Ciasulli (LU) by FFT
141 - Cory Cooperman (LU) dec. John Manarte (HU),  10-2
149 - James Strouse (HU) dec. Matt Anderson (LU), 7-1
157 - Derek Zinck (LU) dec. Chris Vondruska (HU), 4-2
165 - Troy Letters (LU) dec. Ralph Everett (HU), 8-2
174 - Brad Dillon (LU) dec. Noel Thompson (HU), 13-7
184 - Travis Frick (LU) dec. Brad Christie (HU), 2-1
197 - Chris Skretkowicz (HU) dec. Matt Cassidy (LU),  8-0
HWT - Paul Weibel (LU) dec. Dan Garay (HU), 8-3