2008 Woodie Awards
RSSSquad ready for ranked Pitt
By Emily Settle
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Sports
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Head Coach Greg Strobel said he has confidence in the Mountain Hawks' abilities.
"I think we're ready," Strobel said. "The guys are well prepared from a physical standpoint. [Monday] at practice my coaches and I commented on how much better shape the guys are in now than they were four weeks ago. They needed less rest time and they recovered quicker."
Lehigh's past matches against Pittsburgh have been very successful.
"Last year they were ranked ahead of us and we beat them in the dual out at their place," Strobel said. "Hopefully we'll look good."
According to Strobel, a few key matches will determine the overall outcome.
At 141, senior Jeff Santo faces Pittsburgh senior No. 4 Drew Headlee. A win could give Santo a national rank.
Senior Dave Nakasone will be up against the Panthers' All-American, No. 4 Matt Kocher, who defeated him at nationals last year and is ranked at 157.
No. 1 Keith Gavin, a senior for Pittsburgh will face Lehigh's freshman Alex Caruso at 174.
"That's a critical match-up to not get beat badly or to score a whole bunch of points," Strobel said. "Who knows what's going to happen there. That's the way it is in wrestling. It's a mix and a match."
Caruso is in for sophomore No. 12 David Craig, who is recovering from knee surgery.
Santo said that despite Pittsburgh's nationally ranked squad, Lehigh is definitely capable of victory.
"We have a good shot," Santo said. "We're a young team and we lost a lot of kids, but I think we'll be alright."
Strobel said he thinks the team's youth will only help its season.
"We're young and inexperienced with nobody ranked really high on the team, so we're going to be underneath everybody's radar," Strobel said. "But I personally think we're better than what we're ranked. That's going to be fun if we improve in the rankings like I think we can."
