EVANSTON, Ill. - SIUE dropped a pair of matches Wednesday against Virginia 34-3 and Northwestern 39-3 at Welsh Ryan Arena. The tri-dual replaced the Midlands Championship on the schedule.

"We wrestled pretty well against Virginia," said SIUE Head Coach Jeremy Spates. "Many of their guys are ranked in the top 30 nationally, and we lost on a lot of closes matches. We wrestled well but made mental mistakes or technical mistakes. Coming back against Northwestern, we didn't wrestle quite as well."

Saul Ervin improved to 10-3 this season as he picked up wins at 141 pounds by defeating Virginia's Dylan Cedeno 5-1 and Northwestern's Frankie Tal Shahar 3-1 in overtime.

The Cougars open Mid-American Conference action Jan. 7 at Clarion.

"We still feel good about the future," said Spates.

Virginia 34 SIUE 3
125: Patrick McCormick (UVA) over Austin Macias (SIUE) (MD 10-0) 
133: Brian Courtney (UVA) over (SIUE) (For.) 
141: Saul Ervin (SIUE) over Dylan Cedeno (UVA) (Dec 5-1) 
149: Jarod Verkleeren (UVA) over Caleb Tyus (SIUE) (Dec 8-5) 
157: Denton Spencer (UVA) over Max Kristoff (SIUE) (Dec 5-0) 
165: Justin McCoy (UVA) over (SIUE) (For.) 
174: Justin Phillips (UVA) over Kevin Gschwendtner (SIUE) (Dec 4-2) 
184: Michael Battista (UVA) over Sergio Villalobos (SIUE) (Dec 6-1) 
197: Jay Aiello (UVA) over Ryan Yarnell (SIUE) (Dec 11-5) 
285: Quinn Miller (UVA) over Colton McKiernan (SIUE) (Dec 7-2)

Northwestern 39 SIUE 3
Match 2 Results:
125: Matt Vinci (NW) over Austin Macias (SIUE) (MD 10-2) 
133: Chris Cannon (NW) over (SIUE) (For.) 
141: Saul Ervin (SIUE) over Frankie Tal Shahar (NW) (TB-1 3-1) 
149: Yahya Thomas (NW) over Caleb Tyus (SIUE) (MD 16-5) 
157: Trevor Chumbley (NW) over Max Kristoff (SIUE) (Fall 4:21) 
165: David Ferrante (NW) over (SIUE) (For.) 
174: Troy Fisher (NW) over Kevin Gschwendtner (SIUE) (Dec 4-0) 
184: Jon Halvorsen (NW) over Sergio Villalobos (SIUE) (SV-1 3-1) 
197: Andrew Davison (NW) over Ryan Yarnell (SIUE) (Dec 7-2) 
285: Lucas Davison (NW) over Colton McKiernan (SIUE) (MD 14-0)
Extra Matches:
197: Austin Andres (SIUE) over Brendan Devine (NW) (Dec 4-0)
285: Aric Bohn (SIUE) over Brendan Devine (NW) (MD 9-1)