For a moment last Sunday, Hilton Coliseum was quiet. For a few seconds, ISU fans couldn’t think of anything to say.

Cyclone Joe Curran had just been taken down twice in the final 48 seconds of his match – the last coming with 9 seconds left – by Missouri’s 15th-ranked Jeff Foust.

The four points gave Foust an 8-7 decision and won the Tigers the dual.

Iowa State led 15-13 going into the 197-pound match last Sunday, but Missouri left Ames with a 16-15 victory.

After losing, Curran crouched next to the mat while the rest of his team headed to the locker room, following them soon after. Minutes later, he dutifully came back to sign autographs for a line of lingering fans.

He also started thinking about what had just happened.

“It’s about what you want for an ending to a match,” Curran said. “Both of us were going at it hard. I just didn’t end up on top – that’s the bottom line.”

Curran is a 19-year old Division I wrestler – the first true freshman to start for the ISU wrestling team since Trent Hynek in 1995.

At 10-16, his record is far from glossy. And against Faust, a former Big 12 Champion, Curran was trying to snap a 10-match losing streak that dates back to early January. He tied the match at three early in the second period, then earned a standing ovation from the ISU crowd when he rode-out the senior until the end of the period.

But freshman struggles are only part of Curran’s story. He is wrestling out of necessity, filling an empty roster spot for coach Bobby Douglas.

Douglas usually redshirts his freshmen, but instead opted to let this freshman taste the competition early.

Last Sunday, the 14-year head coach stood by Curran’s aggressive approach.

“In the third period, he could have stalled his way through the match but got countered while taking another shot,” Douglas said. “That is the only way you can get better in the long run.”

Douglas said Curran wrestled a “tremendous match.” Curran was harder on himself.

“When the meet is on the line, you’ve gotta hold on,” he said. “When the meet is on the line you’ve gotta lay it all out there. I mean, your teammates work just as hard to get that score where it was, you know. You just have to work hard to finish it where you want it.”

Douglas said Curran was “out-experienced and out-positioned.”

“He did everything right,” said junior teammate Kurt Backes. “The kid [Faust] is smart. The kid stole it from him, you know, right at the end.

“You’ve gotta give Joe [Curran] credit. He wrestled his heart out. But still it’s only a match. He’ll get him at the Big 12 [Tournament]. Maybe this one is better; he’ll know what he will have to do.”

Curran has earned the high regard of his teammates. Senior captain Nate Gallick, top-ranked in the nation at 141 pounds, was the most vocal in his support.

“Fans realize what he’s doing,” Gallick said.

“He’s not out there for himself . he is a true freshman that is wrestling because we need him. He doesn’t need to be wrestling out there his true freshman year. We need him to be out there wrestling for us.”

He said he empathizes with the season Curran is having. Gallick wrestled at 149 pounds as a redshirt freshman, tallying a record of 16-16. He has lost seven college matches since then.

“It is hard,” Gallick said. “I can relate to the season he is having. I had a rough freshman year, wrestled up a weight class. It was hard. It is really hard wrestling when you are under-sized or under-experienced.”

Curran is the only member of Douglas’ top-ranked recruiting class to wrestle varsity this year. He was 50-0 as a senior at Bishop Heelan, winning a 189-pound Iowa state title in 2005.

He was named the Sioux City Journal’s Male Metro Athlete of the Year.

“He is very unselfish,” junior Trent Paulson said. “He wanted to go out there and score points for Iowa State when he saw we had a weakness. I think that is the heart of a champion.

“He is working his ass off every day in the room trying to get better, trying to help Iowa State. I’ve got all the respect for him in the world.”

Gallick said Curran has a bright future ahead of him.

“It’s not even that I would like to see, I expect great things to happen to Joe [Curran],” Gallick said.

“He is getting experience that guys wait two, three years of college for.”

Curran’s season isn’t over yet. He is eyeing the Big 12 Tournament, which Hilton Coliseum will host in just under three weeks.

“I’m sitting right where I want,” Curran said. “I’m really looking forward to the Big 12’s. I mean it is at home, what more could you ask for? The crowd is behind you.

“It is going to be real exciting. I’m going to come out with everything I’ve got.”

Curran seems to have had the ISU crowd on his side since pinning Iowa senior Adam Fellers earlier in the year.

“Fans play [a big role],” Curran said. “I don’t know if they know that, but when you are tired out there, you don’t even think about it. When you have the fans out there roaring, you just want to win.

“You just want to help the fans out; they come for competition, and that is what you want to give them.”

Gallick said he hopes Curran can qualify for the NCAA Tournament in March.

“Every time he goes out there, it is a win-win situation . no expectations, no pressure,” Gallick said. “He wrestles every match like it is the world title. He has got an amazing heart.”