#10 Arizona State at #8 Lehigh

[ngineer]

Thursday night, 7 p.m. at Lehigh's Stabler Arena will be a good 'head knocker' for you 'slobberknocker' fans out there. Big question will be who will be starting for the Mountain Hawks at 125, 133 and 197. Matt Fisk, the hotshot freshman recruit turned in one of the gutsiest performances last weekend at the Penn State tournament, wrestling with a broken nose that had been operated on the day before, and winning. Match had to be stopped repeatedly for bleeding--not sure he'll be ready. 133 is also an injury riddled weight where Santo has been waiting to get started. Stout has been fighting, but can't seem to turn the corner. 197 will be interesting. Will Strobel go with Cassidy or Weibel? Cassidy looked lethargic against Rider last week, and Weibel tried to get funky at Penn St. and got pinned costing the team victory on the 6-9 point swing.
ASU comes in with SIX wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in their respective weights. Lehigh has their 'Big 5', but the key will be how the rest of the team 'steps up' against the big-time. Match was scheduled for Stabler in hopes of a big crowd--the ol' Snake Pit (Grace Hall) only seats 2,000 versus Stabler's 5,600. I would hope a crowd of at least 3,500. Won't be like last year's with #1 Okla. State when 5,800 jammed the place, but it should be good.
Anyone within a couple hours of Bethlehem, Pa and who loves great college wrestling should make the trip.

[ngineer]

Lehigh's Mountain Hawks stormed onto the mat with a vengeance tonight before about 2500 fans at Stabler Arena to stun #10 Arizona State, 29-7. The Sun Devils were only able to win the first and last bouts of the evening. Lehigh wrestled aggressively in every match. The night's tone was set by Jeff Santo, who returned to the lineup following injury and who packed ASU's grappler in 4:35. From there on it was a tidal wave of takedowns, nearfalls and reversals as the Mountain Hawks rebounded nicely from their 18-17 sudden loss at Penn State when their 197 pounder was surprised on a spin move and got pinned in the State Dual Tournament. Lehigh will get its rematch with the Nittany Lions on January 6 at Stabler Arena. Tickets are selling briskly if anyone thinks they may want to attend.
The other highlight of the night was unranked Matt Cassidy returning at 197 to upset #10 Bader of ASU, 7-6. Lehigh returns to the mats in Grace Hall on Sunday, November 27 at 2 p.m. versus The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.