Penn State wrestling vs. Lock Haven: Preview, how to watch, predictions, starting lineups, and more

Penn State wrestling opens the 2022-2023 season tonight when Lock Haven visits Rec Hall. The match begins at 7 p.m. ET and a sellout is expected.

The Bald Eagles, who are led by Scott Moore, bring a pair of ranked wrestlers to State College. And, unranked 133-pounder Gabe Strickland took the Princeton Open title in his weight class last week.

As for the Lions, this will be their first competition of the season. It is Lock Haven’s first dual meet.

“I think we have the potential of having a very good team,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said.

“It’s up to each individual to go out there and do their thing and be themselves and have fun and compete and look to improve. I think today probably more than ever, kids are gonna feel more pressure from social media and a lot of it is self-imposed, that they kind of create for themselves.”

Get ready for the match with our preview below.

Penn State vs. Lock Haven wrestling: How to watch, follow

There are three ways you can follow the match Friday night. BIG+ is a streaming service tied to Big Ten Network. It will show the match behind its subscription paywall. There are various options available, from everything the service offers to just one school (like Penn State) to just one sport (wrestling). Click here to learn more.

LionVision will also be streaming the live radio call from longtime play-by-play man Jeff Byers. That link will go live to access sometime Friday night before the match, likely around 6:50 p.m. Click here to view it.

Finally, Blue-White Illustrated will have a running thread for fans to discuss the match in The Wrestling Room forum. Access it here.

Projected starting lineups and matches

As always, these are subject to change. But, here’s what we’re expecting entering the evening:

125 pounds: Gary Steen (Penn State) vs. No. 13 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven)

133 pounds: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) vs. Gabe Strickland (LHU)

141 pounds: No. 16 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. Ty Linsenbigler (Lock Haven)

149 pounds: No. 27 Shayne Van Ness (PSU) vs. Connor Eck (LHU)

157 pounds: Terrell Barraclough (Penn State) vs. No. 20 Ashton Eyler (Lock Haven)

165 pounds: No. 23 Alex Facundo (PSU) vs. Aiden Gaugler (LHU)

174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven)

184 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) vs. Colin Fegley (LHU)

197 pounds: No. 1 Max Dean (Penn State) vs. Brad Morrison (Lock Haven)

285 pounds: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) vs. Ethan Miller (LHU)

What will the match of the bout be?

Let’s focus on what will likely be the opener on Friday night: Steen vs. Noto. It did catch our eye that Noto did not wrestle at the Princeton Open. Matt Maloney, who was 3-1 at that tournament, would be the starter if he doesn’t go. Either way, we’re quite excited to see Steen in action. He won the job after Robbie Howard was ruled out for the year due to injury. After a very successful high school career, it’s intriguing to see if he can help solve what has been a revolving door of sorts at 125 pounds.

If that match doesn’t materialize, Barraclough vs. Eyler is our backup. And, the idea is basically the same: It will be good to see what he can do against a ranked wrestler. Barraclough has shown flashes of potential in the past. Cael Sanderson raved about his offseason. Now, we want to see what it looks like on the mat.

Other Penn State-Lock Haven predictions

–Bartlett sounds very confident during his media session on Monday. He did the team a solid by wrestling at 149 before this year. But, now he’s at his right weight, and it’s expected that he should be firing out of the gate. We think he wins by major decision, at worst.

–Penn State will get three wins by fall and two technical falls on Friday.

–Of the three newcomers to the lineup (Steen, Van Ness, and Facundo), Van Ness will win by the biggest margin.