Westminster claims PAC men’s soccer title
GROVE CITY, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--Westminster College secured its fifth Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) men’s soccer championship Saturday with a 1-0 victory over Grove City College in the league’s championship tournament title match.
Saturday’s match was contested at Grove City High School’s Forker Field. It was the first time that top-seeded Grove City (14-2-4) and second-seeded Westminster (14-5) met in the league’s championship match.
The Titans last appeared in the championship tournament in 2015, winning the title as the No. 4 seed. Grove City, winners of a pair of PAC championships (1996, 2005), last appeared in the league’s title match was in 2014. Grove City last hosted the league’s title match as the No. 1 seed in 2001.
After claiming this year’s league title, Westminster receives the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. It will be the Titans' fifth trip to the national championships. Team selections for the Division III Championship are scheduled to be announced Monday, November 5 at 1 p.m. (EST) with an online selection show available at ncaa.com. First and second round matchups are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, November 9-11.
| Saturday, November 3 |
PAC Championship Tournament [Title match]
No. 2 Westminster at No. 1 Grove City
Forker Field--Grove City, Pa. (Grove City High School) |
Result: Westminster 1, Grove City 0
Box score |
Senior midfielder Shane Fallen (Blue Bell, Pa. | Wissahickon) scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute on a penalty kick after Grove City was whistled for a foul committed in the penalty area ... Senior goalkeeper AJ Bove (New Stanton, Pa. | Hempfield Area) posted a career-high 11 saves ... It was his fifth shutout of the season ... Senior defender Zach Medarac (Beaver Falls, Pa. | Blackhawk) and Fallen each had key saves along the Titans’ goal line with just over seven minutes remaining in the opening half to preserve the lead ... Grove City finished with a 13-2 advantage in shots on goal, including a 7-0 edge in the second half ... The Wolverines also held a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks. |
| Tuesday, October 30 |
PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 2]
No. 4 W&J at No. 1 Grove City
Forker Field--Grove City, Pa. (Grove City High School) |
Result: Grove City 3, W&J 1
Box score |
Senior forward Nate Curry (Dillsburg, Pa. | Northern York) scored twice in the first half while junior forward Christian Caporaso (Fairfield, Conn. | Heritage Christian) also scored in the first half of Tuesday night’s semifinal win ... Junior midfielder Noah Esbenshade (Elizabethtown, Pa. | Mount Calvary Christian) assisted Curry’s first goal, while Caporaso supplied the assist on his second ... Junior defender Alec Gehman (Mechanicsburg, Pa. | Mechanicsburg) assisted Caporaso's score ... Sophomore midfielder Drew Williams (Jefferson Township, Pa. | North Pocono) tallied the Presidents' lone goal in the 81st minute off of an assist by senior midfielder Paul Mokrzan (Hilliard, Ohio | Watterson) ... Grove City owned a 26-3 edge in shots and a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks ... Freshman goalkeeper Luke Greenway (Penn Hills, Pa. | Penn Hills) earned the win in goal for Grove City ... W&J senior goalkeeper Nick Stasko (Gibsonia, Pa. | Pine-Richland) stopped a career-high 12 shots ... He finished his career with 160 career saves, ninth on the program's all-time list. |
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| Tuesday, October 30 |
PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 1]
No. 3 Bethany at No. 2 Westminster
Memorial Field--New Wilmington, Pa. |
Result: Westminster 1, Bethany 0
Box score |
Senior forward Justin Brandt (Ellicott City, Md. | Archbishop Spalding) entered as a substitute at the 58:52 mark and proceeded to net the game-winning score off of an assist from junior defender Nick Cimini (Mars, Pa. | Mars) with 11:25 remaining in regulation ... The goal was Brandt’s fourth of the season ... Senior goalkeeper AJ Bove (New Stanton, Pa. | Hempfield Area) totaled five saves in the win, his fourth shutout of the season ... Bethany sophomore goalkeeper Torben Grether (Rheinfelden, Germany | Georg-Buchner) finished with six saves ... Westminster held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks and owned a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal ... The two teams were both whistled on four offside calls ... Tuesday’s win was Westminster’s 13th of the season, the program’s most since 2008 (17-6).
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