No. 22 Rutgers Wrestling Heads to 106th EIWA Championships
Mar 05 | Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (March 5, 2010) – The No. 22 Rutgers wrestling team will take part in the 106th EIWA Championships this weekend at Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena.
The 106th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 10 a.m. The tournament will proceed through the completion of the semifinals Saturday evening. Sunday’s two sessions feature consolations and placement matches beginning at 10 a.m. and the championship finals at 3 p.m. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting the arena box office this weekend.
Lehighsports.com will stream free wall-to-wall live video coverage of all four sessions of the EIWA Championships. The radio voice of Lehigh wrestling, Steve Lomangino, will anchor the coverage. He will be joined mat-side by Doug Heater and Kyle Berger of Service Electric 2.
Additionally, the EIWA Finals, slated to get underway at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, will be televised live on Service Electric 2 Sports. The telecast will also be streamed live on Lehighsports.com.
The Scarlet Knights (19-5-1) ended the regular season with their first loss in nearly two months when they fell at No. 7 Lehigh on Saturday, Feb. 20 by a 28-3 score. The dual defeat was RU’s first since Dec. 12, 2009 when the Scarlet Knights dropped a 21-18 decision to then-No. 24 Pittsburgh. It ended a 15-match dual match unbeaten streak for RU. Rutgers owns a 14-1-1 record in 2010.
“Our match against Lehigh showed that you have to wrestle at a high level every time out,” said third-year Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale. “You have to bring your ‘A’ game and be able to win close matches. This week is a time when you need to win those close matches because if you knock off one of those ranked guys it could put you in NCAAs.”
Rutgers is one of three EIWA teams listed in the final coaches’ poll with Cornell (No. 6) and. Lehigh (No. 7).
Eight Scarlet Knights enter the postseason listed in the NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings - 125-pound Joseph Langel (No. 18.), 133-pound Billy Ashnault (No. 33), 141-pound Trevor Melde (No. 24), 157-pound Daryl Cocozzo (No. 20), 165-pound Gregory Zannetti (No. 33), 174-pound Daniel Rinaldi (No. 29), 197-pound Lamar Brown (No. 24) and heavyweight Dominick Russo (No. 9).
“We want to place all 10 guys and placing at the EIWA’s means placing in the top six,” commented Goodale. “That is our goal. If we do that we will be right in the thick of it. Obviously, Cornell and Lehigh are the frontrunners in this thing. Those are the two things everybody is going to try and catch. It is a great team and individual tournament.”
At last season’s EIWA Championships, Rutgers finished ninth as a team and four Scarlet Knights placed in their respective weight brackets, highlighted by Scott Winston’s (Jackson, N.J.) third place performance at 157 pounds. Russo finished in fourth place in the heavyweight bracket. Former Scarlet Knight Matt Pletcher placed fourth at 165 pounds and Melde placed fifth at 141 pounds.
The EIWA received 41 automatic bids to the NCAA tournament when the NCAA announced its qualifier allocations last week. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data including Division I winning percentage, RPI and a coaches ranking. Under the new system, the number of automatic qualifiers varies in each weight class within the EIWA. Wrestlers who fail to qualify this weekend will be eligible for one of 46 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 10.
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