Eastern will travel to Evanston to wrestle No. 21 Northwestern, who has five wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally.

The Panthers (0-3) will have their hands full when they take on the Wildcats (6-0) and No. 14 John Velvez (125), No. 18 Ryan Lang (141), No. 4 Jake Herbert (174), No. 19 Mike Tammilow (184) and No. 14 Matt Delguyd (197).

Three of those wrestlers, Lang, Herbert and Tammilow, have freshman eligibility.

“Coach (Tim Cysewski) is putting together a good team,” Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said. “Our schedule is based so we get those kind of feels.

“We’re such a young team we have to look at it as a challenge, week in and week out.”

The most anticipated match of the night will come at 174 lbs., where Eastern sophomore Kenny Robertson (22-8) will face off against Herbert.

“(Kenny) is getting to the point where even the good guys he can turn,” McCausland said. “He’s getting very close. Same thing with (heavyweight Pete) Ziminski.”

The meet will be the first time the pair have wrestled, but Robertson did get a chance to see Herbert at the Midlands Tournament, the nation’s top regular season tournament, when Herbert won the meet.

“All the guy does is hold position,” Robertson said. “We wrestle kind of alike.

“We’re both looking for counters.”

Herbert beat three wrestlers ranked higher than him on his way to Northwestern’s first Midlands championship since 1974. He also earned Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for the accomplishment.

But Robertson isn’t concerned with what Herbert’s done so far this season, or the pressure of wrestling the No. 4 ranked wrestler in his weight class.

“It’s just another match,” Robertson said. “I didn’t wrestle very well at Midlands (where he took eighth), but I had a good week of practice.”

Robertson is leading the team in major decisions (4), tech falls (3) and wins (22).

At 184 lbs., the Panthers will send freshman Greg Perz (7-8) to the mat against Tammilow, who took sixth at Midlands. This match could be the Panthers’ best chance for an upset as Perz leads the team with six pins.

The Panthers will send Chino Duran (8-9) at 133 lbs., Bob Fangerow (7-6) at 141 lbs., Shane Dintelman (10-10) at 149 lbs., Andy Mangiaguerra (0-6) at 157 lbs., Kevin Knabjian (0-5) at 165 lbs., Jason Sherko (5-10) at 197 lbs. and Pete Ziminski (4-4) at heavyweight.