The winning streak ended at four for the No. 8 Illini wrestling team as Illinois dropped Sunday afternoon’s dual with No. 12 Northwestern, 22-11.

After edging No. 4 Minnesota in a 19-17 upset Friday night, Illinois (12-3, 4-2 Big Ten) lost seven of 10 matches to the Wildcats (8-7, 3-3) in Evanston, Ill. Five of Northwestern’s seven victories came by three points or fewer and two came in overtime.

“Overall, I was disappointed,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “All the close ones went their way, and they won them and we didn’t.”

No. 15 John Wise lost a 6-2 decision to the nation’s No. 1 heavyweight, Northwestern’s Dustin Fox. The two matches decided in extra time also went the Wildcats’ way – Gabe Flores (125 pounds) and Ryan Prater (141) fell to their Northwestern opponents 4-2 and 7-4, respectively.

Sunday’s loss at in-state rival Northwestern was the first for the Illini since its 22-16 loss at the then No. 6 Michigan Feb. 1.

“They out-wrestled us today. We just looked tired today,” Johnson said. “We didn’t wrestle horribly; we just didn’t get the job done with great intensity.”

Mike Poeta added that he didn’t think Illinois “had the fire today that (they) had against Minnesota on Friday.”

“Our standards are pretty high. If we lose to anybody, that’s a disappointment,” Poeta added.

Sunday’s three bright spots for the Illini came via major decisions from No. 2 Poeta and No. 9 Jimmy Kennedy, as well as a decision win by redshirt freshman Ben Friedl.

Friedl (184) won his Sunday match 11-5 but it was Friday’s 4-1 win that kept the Illini within striking distance of the Gophers. Going into the second-to-last match, Illinois trailed Minnesota 17-13 until Friedl defeated Jeremy Larson to bring the Illini within one at 17-16. No. 11 Patrick Bond (197) then won his match to give Illinois the victory.

“We both had people we were positive we could beat,” Friedl said of himself and Bond.

The energy from Friday night’s upset couldn’t carry the Illini grapplers to a fifth consecutive win though.

“Everybody was feeling a little run down and Northwestern was ready to wrestle,” Friedl said. “They came in knowing that we were ranked higher and they wanted it more.”

Poeta continued to dominate his opponents in both duals this weekend, posting a pin and major decision victory. Kennedy also won both of his matches, which included an upset of Minnesota’s No. 5 Mack Reiter and a major decision Sunday.

Illinois wrestled without Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165) this weekend due to an injury but Johnson said he should be back in action for this weekend’s duals.

Johnson and his men return to Huff Hall Friday against Purdue for the first of two weekend duals. Sunday’s competition versus the No. 1 Iowa Hawkeyes will also be at home.