Lehigh Sports Weekend: A Very Busy Friday

Since it's still college football season for me (as evidenced by my new poll asking readers for their vote for LFN Player of the Year, my open letter to NCAA President Myles Brand, and my preview of FCS games this weekend, including the playoff quarterfinal games), I haven't had much of a chance to do much hyping of the Lehigh winter sports that I enjoy so much.

But while I was busy, Lehigh's wrestling team was - shall we say - busy.

Busy resurrecting themselves as a national program. As EIWA title contenders. Maybe even rising from the ashes to make some serious noise this March in the NCAA Championships, too.

Lehigh has gone from being unranked starting the year from going an amazing 8-0 in the early going all the way to a No. 10 Intermat ranking. That included an utter 41-3 domination of Princeton. A win over No. 9 Michigan. And last weekend, it meant an upset win over No. 7 Oklahoma State in the Northeast Duals to give the Lehigh wrestlers a perfect 8-0 mark.

That's right. A perfect record. Thanks to a perfect 8-0 record by senior 149 lb Trevor Chinn and identical 6-1 records by junior 165 lb Mike Galante and junior 184 lb David Craig - Lehigh wrestling once again is amongst the elite programs in the nation.

This weekend, the grapplers are in Las Vegas to compete in the Las Vegas Invitational. Not since 2001 has a Lehigh wrestler won at this event - but this year, where every week has proven to be filled with pleasant surprises, who knows?

That highlights a very busy Friday. What other events grace the schedule?

Women's Basketball (Record: 5-2: Real-Time RPI: 169):
7:00 P.M. 12/5 Friday, Bethlehem, PA vs. Bryant (Record: 3-4: Real-Time RPI: N/A)
1:00 P.M. 12/7 Sunday Villanova, PA vs. Villanova (Record: 3-4: Real-Time RPI: 166)

Two very winnable games for the Lady Hawks, including one against a D-I transitional team in Bryant (out of Rhode Island) that might be tougher than you think.

Men's Basketball (Record: 5-2: Real-Time RPI: 181)
7:00 P.M. 12/5 Friday, Stony Brook, NY vs. Stony Brook (Record: 3-3: Real-Time RPI: 301)
7:00 P.M. 12/8 Monday, Bethlehem, PA vs. Albany (Record: 5-2: Real-Time RPI: 47)

It doesn't get any easier for the Mountain Hawks this week. You can't overlook the Seawolves, and for basketball fans who know their stuff, the game versus Albany should prove to be a great litmus test as to how far along the basketball team realy is.

Should be a great weekend! Most of these events can be seen or heard through LehighSports.Com.

(All RPI calculations are figured out using http://www.realtimerpi.com.)

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UMass 21, Lafayette 14, halftime

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