Eastern’s wrestling team was able to win just one match Saturday, when it lost to No. 21 Northwestern 41-3.

The Panthers (0-5) were unable to capture their first victory of the season, as the Wildcats (7-0) maintained their perfect record heading into the Big Ten dual season.

“(Northwestern head coach Tim Cysewski) has a very nice team put together,” Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said.

Senior heavyweight Pete Ziminski (5-4) scored the only team points for the Panthers with his 4-1 win over Northwestern senior Scott Johnson.

“Ziminski’s a good wrestler, and he’s going to be a factor at nationals this year,” Cysewski said.

One of the most exciting matches of the night came at 174 lbs., where Eastern sophomore Kenny Robertson (22-9), ranked No. 20 nationally at his weight class, lost 5-4 to No. 4 Jake Herbert.

“They had a barn burner,” Cysewski said. “They’ll probably see each other again at nationals.”

Despite the loss, McCausland was impressed with Robertson’s performance, not only in that match but in the season as well.

“(Kenny) is right on the verge of winning those types of matches,” McCausland said. “We still have some small, minute, technical things that Kenny needs to work on.”

Eastern had another close match at 149 lbs., but the Panthers came up short to the Wildcats once again when Eastern freshman Shane Dintelman (10-11) lost a 5-3 decision to sophomore Jimmy Kim.

“(Shane) was right in the thick of it,” McCausland said. “He’s going to the same old moves.

“It’s going to hurt him until he can learn to change the tempo of the match.”

The Panthers forfeited at 133 lb.. where they had expected to send junior Chino Duran.

Duran was unable to wrestle and sophomore Casey Carrion, who normally backs Duran at 133 lbs., wasn’t ready to wrestle on short notice and couldn’t safely drop the weight to wrestle, McCausland said.

Eastern will try for their first dual win of the season when they welcome Ohio and McKendree to Lantz Arena for a triangular meet Sunday.