DATE: 12/7/2007 11:05:00 PM

Bethlehem, PA

By Steve Lomganino
Lehigh Sports Information

No. 5 Penn State handed Lehigh its second shutout loss of the season, as the Nittany Lions came into Stabler Arena and came away with a 33-0 win Friday night in front of 3,352 fans on NWCA Fan Interaction Night. Penn State earned bonus points in just two of the ten bouts, but Lehigh lost several close decisions, as they fall to 4-6 on the season, while the Nittany Lions improve to 3-0.

“We had some winnable matches, but came up short,” said Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel. “They (Penn State) are solid all the way through. We fought well at times, we just couldn’t pull through.”

As part of fan interaction night, the order of bouts was selected by the coaches. The first two bouts were selected at the weigh-in, with Penn State coach Troy Sunderland and Strobel alternating selections during the match.

Penn State won the coin toss and Sunderland chose 125 to start. Sixth ranked Mark McKnight was opened things with a bonus win, scoring five takedowns in a 14-5 major decision over Mitch Berger.

Strobel’s first choice was 174, with freshman Alex Caruso facing David Erwin. Caruso scored the first takedown late in the second period, but was reversed shortly thereafter. The match went into overtime, and Erwin improved to 16-1 with the winning takedown 30 seconds into the sudden victory period.

The next bout up was heavyweight, where John Laboranti earned a 12-5 win over sophomore Justin Allen. Lehigh followed with 149, and Trevor Chinn hung tough with fourth ranked Bubba Jenkins. The Nittany Lion sophomore scored takedowns in each of the first two periods, and despite being hit for stalling late, held on for 5-4 victory.

Bout number five saw Penn State send out top-ranked Phil Davis at 197.
Davis built a 9-0 lead after one period and went on to secure the Nittany Lions second bonus win, with a 19-2 technical fall in 6:19 over sophomore Alex Iacocca.

Looking for break the Penn State run, Strobel called upon sophomore Mike Galante at 165. Matched up against Dave Rella, Galante hit a lateral drop for a takedown to lead 3-2 after one period. Rella notched his second takedown of the bout in the second period, and after a third period escape, the bout was tied at five. In sudden victory for the second time on the evening, Galante went for another big move, but was too far away from Rella, who fell on top for the takedown and three-point near fall to win 10-5.

At 141, No. 3 Jake Strayer held off a late charge from senior Jeff Santo to win 8-6. Down 24-0, Strobel called upon David Craig at 184. The 17th ranked sophomore was matched up with No. 19 Phil Bomberger, who Craig beat last year 8-2. Bomberger however stunned the pro-Lehigh crowd with a takedown and three-point near fall in the final seconds of the first period. A penalty point put Craig behind 6-0 early in the second, and the deficit was too much for Craig to overcome, as Bomberger held on to win 9-5.

It looked like Lehigh would pick up its first win at 133. Junior Kevin Vinh was controlling Mike Eagen from the top position. Vinh scored a two point near fall to lead 2-1 after two periods and after building a sizeable riding time advantage cut Eagen loose to tie the match at 2-2 with riding time secured. Eagen however, countered a Vinh shot into a takedown, and when Vinh was unable to get off the bottom, Penn State had its ninth straight win of the night as Eagen prevailed 4-3.

The final bout of the night saw senior Dave Nakasone fall 11-4 to tenth ranked Dan Vallimont at 157.

The shutout loss was Lehigh’s first at home since a 42-0 loss to Iowa State on February 1, 1991. The Mountain Hawks have now been shut out twice in the same season for the first time in the program’s 99 year history. Penn State has now won four in a row over Lehigh and leads the all-time series 61-32-3.

The Mountain Hawks will now have several weeks off for final exams and the holiday break. Lehigh will return to the mats on Sunday December 30, at the Wolverine Quad in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Mountain Hawks will face Eastern Michigan at noon, Buffalo at 2 p.m. and the host Michigan Wolverines at 5 p.m.