Three Gophers won two matches on the first day of the NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Okla., to reach Friday's quarterfinals.
Advancing were Aaron Nagao at 133 pounds — he got a pin in the second round — Bailee O'Reilly at 174 and Isaiah Salazar at 184.
Minnesota, with four other wrestlers still going in the consolation bracket, is in fourth place in the team standings with 16.5 points. Penn State is in first place with 26 points and seven wrestlers in the quarterfinals, followed by Iowa with 21.5 points and Missouri 17.5.
The Gophers went 6-3 in the first round. Jake Bergeland had Minnesota's only upset that round. Bergeland, seeded 20th, beat No. 13 Carter Young of Oklahoma State 5-0.
The three Gophers who lost faced higher-seeded foes. At 165 pounds, Andrew Sparks lost 12-4 to Princeton's Quincy Monday, an NCAA runner-up last year. At 197, Michial Foy lost 5-3 to Maryland's Jaxon Smith, seeded 11th. And heavyweight Garrett Joles lost 12-2 to top seed Mason Parris of Michigan.
In the second round, Minnesota went 3-3. The closest of those losses was by Michael Blockhus, the Big Ten runner-up at 149 pounds. His match with Northwestern's Yahya Thomas went to overtime and Thomas got the first points there for a sudden victory.
Bergeland, Blockhus, Patrick McKee at 125 and Andrew Sparks at 165 are all still alive in wrestlebacks. Only Foy and Joles are done after each losing twice.
Whitecaps stun Boston
Jonna Albers scored three goals — two in the third period — to lead the visiting Minnesota Whitecaps to a 5-2 victory over the two-time defending champion Boston Pride in the first game of their best-of-three Premier Hockey Federation playoff series.
