The No. 4 seed, Army\’s lone finalist, survived the first round with a 5-3 sudden victory over Sean Carr of East Stroudsburg, won by default in 3:50 over fifth seed Sal Tiricio of Columbia and eked out a 3-2 decision over eighth seed Brett McCurdy of Penn.
In the quarterfinals, McCurdy posted a pin in 6:33 against American\’s Kyle Horshoff, who had decked top seed Max Meltzer of Harvard in 3:22 in a first-round shocker.
\”Matt is in a tough weight class with some nationally ranked guys and doing a great job,\” Army coach Chuck Barbee said. \”It\’s exciting to see him in the finals. He always stays in good position and doesn\’t make too many mistakes, so he is always in the bout and you need to do that to win at the highest level.\”
Kyler\’s opponent in the finals, which will start at four o\’clock this afternoon, will be No. 2 seed Matt Ciasulli of Lehigh. Ciasulli, ranked No. 19 in the country, won a pair of major decisions, 9-1 over seventh seed Corey Manson of Cornell and 13-5 over sixth seed Mark Savino of Brown.
Kyler has a 31-9 record, including a 10-4 dual meet loss to Ciasulli on Feb. 10. The Lehigh senior has a 28-6 record.
