St. Louis, MO - Despite gutsy performances on the mat, Hofstra's three remaining wrestlers – graduate student Greg Gaxiola, senior Charles Small, and redshirt junior Zachary Knighton-Ward – were eliminated in Day Two of the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Friday afternoon from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

All three wrestlers advanced to the second day with at least one win in their respective weight classes in the first two sessions of the first day of the three-day NCAA Championship event.

In the 149-pound bracket, Gaxiola was matched with Joshua Heil of Campbell and suffered a 5-2 decision loss to the No. 20 seed. Gaxiola won two matches on Day One in his NCAA Championships debut, a 4-0 decision over No. 30-seed Marcus Robinson of Cleveland State and a 3-2 decision win over Navy's Casey Cobb at the No. 19 seed. He ends the season with a 6-5 record in his first season in a Pride singlet.

Small went 1-1 on Day One, including a 3-2 overtime decision win over No. 10 seed Tate Samuelson, and he was sent to the consolation bracket after dropping a 5-2 decision to No. 7 seed Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois. In the consolation bracket, he was matched up against No. 24 seed Rocky Jordan of Ohio State. Small suffered a 16-0 tech fall defeat at 2:49 of the first period to bring his time in St. Louis to a close. Small ends his senior season at 8-4 and his career record now stands at 19-19.

After winning by pin over North Dakota State's Brandon Metz in the first period of his first consolation match in the evening session of Day One, Knighton-Ward was matched against No. 21 seed Tate Orndorff out of Ohio State. Knighton-Ward suffered an 11-3 major decision defeat to the Ohio State wrestler to conclude his season with an 8-5 record and a 31-18 career record at Hofstra.

The Pride finish the second day of the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with a team score of 5.5 points, placing them in a tie for 40th with Kent State. The Iowa Hawkeyes lead the team standings at the end of Session Four with 73.5 team points, followed by Big 10 rival Penn State with 57.5 points. Oklahoma State sits in third with 51 points, followed by North Carolina State in fourth with 46 points, and Missouri is in fifth-place with 40 points.

The fifth session of the NCAA Championships and the final session of Day Two will take place at 7 p.m. ET and will feature the semifinal matches in every weight class. Sessions Six and Seven will take place on Saturday, March 20, with the consolation semifinals and finals taking place in Session Six at 11 a.m., and the title matches will take place in Session Seven at 7 p.m.