CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The first two dual meets of the season left the SIUE wrestling on the short end as Arizona State defeated the Cougars 38-6 and ninth-ranked Illinois bested SIUE 41-3.

Freshman Troy Gassaway was the lone victor for the Cougars against Illinois with a 7-1 win at 125 pounds over Francis Edelen. Gassaway dropped his first match of the day against Arizona State's Ares Carpio 14-7.

"Troy did a good job in both matches," said SIUE Head Coach Jeremy Spates. "Getting a win against Illinois was big for him. He went out and battled for seven minutes."

Chris Johnson, at heavyweight, earned all six of SIUE's team points in the Arizona State match. He pulled out a pin over Tanner Hall at 7:37.

"That was a nice win for him. He fought hard to get the victory in overtime," noted Spates.

Spates said he some good wrestling from a number of Cougars but some adjustments will need to get made.

"As long as we continue to change those things throughout the course of the season, we'll get better," he added.

SIUE opens the home schedule this Friday at 7 p.m. against Missouri. The Tigers enter the match ranked No. 9 nationally in the USA Today/NWCA poll.

Arizona State 38, SIUE 6
125: Ares Carpio (ASU) def. Troy Gassaway (SIUE), 14-7
133: Cord Coronado (ASU) def. Dakota Leach (SIUE), 4-2
141: Robbie Mathers (ASU) def. Angelo Silvestro (SIUE), 12-3
149: Matt Kraus (ASU) def. John Fahy (SIUE), 13-2
157: Oliver Pierce (ASU) pinned Nate Higgins (SIUE), 1:09
165: Jacen Petersen (ASU) pinned Erik Travers (SIUE), 1:32
174: Zachary Smith (ASU) def. Clayton Bass (SIUE), 15-5
184: Blake Stauffer (ASU) won by technical fall over Derek Nagel (SIUE), 17-2
197: Josh DaSilveira (ASU) def. Jake Tindle (SIUE), 6-4
HWT: Chris Johnson (SIUE) pinned Tanner Hall (ASU), 7:37 (OT)

No. 9 Illinois 41 SIUE 3
125: Troy Gassaway (SIUE) def. Francis Edelen (ILL), 7-1
133: Zane Richards (ILL) def. Dakota Leach (SIUE), 20-8
141: Brock Ervin (ILL) def. Angelo Silvestro (SIUE), 10-2
149: Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) over John Fahy (SIUE), 3-2
157: Isaiah Martinez (ILL) pinned Nate Higgins (SIUE), 2:52
165: Steven Rodrigues (ILL) won by technical fall over Eric Travers (SIUE), 18-2/4:32
174: Zach Brunson (ILL) pinned Clayton Bass (SIUE), 2:44
184: Jeffrey Koepke (ILL) def. Derek Nagel (SIUE), 14-5
197: Andre Lee (ILL) def. Jake Tindle (SIUE), 3-2
285: Brooks Black (ILL) pinned Chris Johnson (SIUE), 0:24