Grove City wins PAC women's soccer title in penalty kicks
GROVE CITY, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--Grove City College and Westminster College battled to a 1-1 draw in Saturday’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament title match, but the Wolverines edged the Titans in penalty kicks, 3-1, to secure the league title.
Saturday’s title match was the first to go to penalty kicks since 2012.
Grove City and Westminster had not met in the championship tournament’s title match since 2004. The programs played for the league championship in three-straight seasons (2002-04).
Saturday’s match between top-seeded Grove City (16-3-1) and third-seeded Westminster (15-5-1) was contested at Grove City High School’s Forker Field.
Grove City, winners of six PAC titles, earned the top seed in this year's championship tournament for the first time since 2009. The Wolverines concluded their regular season with an unblemished 8-0 league record. Saturday was Grove City’s seventh-straight title match appearance. This was Grove City's first PAC title since 2001.
With its victory Saturday, Grove City earned the conference's automatic qualifying bid to this year's NCAA Division III Championship.
Westminster was appearing in the championship tournament for the first time since 2015. The Titans have claimed five PAC titles since becoming eligible for the conference championship in 2002, and last advanced to the PAC title match in 2010.
Team selections for the Division III Championship are scheduled to be announced Monday, November 5 at 1:30 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. 3 Westminster at No. 1 Grove City
Forker Field--Grove City, Pa. (Grove City H.S.) |
Result: Grove City 1, Westminster 1 (2OT), Grove City wins in penalty kicks, 3-1
Box score |
Westminster assumed a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute on a Grove City own goal ... Junior midfielder Brooke Thomas (Hummelstown, Pa. | King Philip Regional (Mass.)) evened the match at 1-1 in the 90th minute, scoring off of a double assist from freshman forward Maggie Williams (Mars, Pa. | Mars) and senior forward Krista Heckman (Lock Haven, Pa. | Central Mountain) ... After playing through a pair of scoreless overtime periods, the match went into penalty kicks ... Sophomore goalkeeper Columbia Harkrader (Mineral, Va. | Louisa County) had a pair of key stops for Grove City in the first overtime period ... Harkrader registered saves on Westminster’s first three penalty kicks ... Following goals by freshman defender Lizzy Swoboda (Wheaton, Ill. | Wheaton Academy) and sophomore midfielder Michaela Burke (Gilbert, Ariz. | Gilbert Christian) in the first and third rounds, Williams secured the win with her round four score ... Harkrader finished with five saves in regulation time and the two overtime periods ... Westminster first-year goalkeeper Camille Holzschuh (Youngstown, Ohio | Boardman) also posted five saves ... Grove City finished with a 7-6 edge in shots on goal and a 10-5 advantage in corner kicks. |
| Wednesday, October 31 |
PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 2]
No. 3 Westminster at No. 2 W&J
Alexandre Stadium--Washington, Pa. |
Result: Westminster 3, W&J 2
Box score |
Senior midfielder Keely Birsic (North Ridgeville, Ohio | Elyria Catholic) scored on a penalty kick in the sixth minute to give visiting Westminster a 1-0 lead ... It was Birsic’s 12th of the season ... The goal was Westminster’s first in regulation play of a PAC Championship Tournament match since Sarah Nee’s score in the Titans’ November 3, 2010 semifinal victory ... Sophomore midfielder Marcy Saldivar (Darlington, Pa. | Blackhawk) was able to convert a direct free kick in the 36th minute to even the score ... The goal was Saldivar’s third this season ... Junior forward Kayla Trozzi (Monroeville, Pa. | Gateway) scored off of an assist from first-year forward Ashley Frank (Mentor, Ohio | Mentor) in the 56th minute to give Westminster a 2-1 advantage ... The goal was Trozzi’s fourth of the year ... Junior midfielder Gabrielle Diamond (Moon Township, Pa. | Moon) scored off of a Birsic assist less than a minute later to push the Titans’ lead to 3-1 ... It was Diamond’s third goal this season ... W&J trimmed the to deficit to 3-2 on a goal by senior forward Brianna Floryshak (Berwick, Pa. | Berwick) with under 15 minutes to play ... It was Floryshak’s fourth of the year ... Freshman midfielder Caitlin Drahushak (DuBois, Pa. | DuBois) assisted on the score ... First-year goalkeeper Camille Holzschuh (Youngtown, Ohio | Boardman) totaled three saves in the win ... Freshman goalkeeper Shayla Watkins (Charleroi, Pa. | Charleroi) had five saves for W&J ... Westminster held an 8-5 edge in shots on goal and had a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks ... The five combined goals were the most in a PAC Championship Tournament match since 2014. |
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| Wednesday, October 31 |
PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 1]
No. 4 Chatham at No. 1 Grove City
Forker Field--Grove City, Pa. (Grove City H.S.) |
Result: Grove City 2, Chatham 0
Box score |
Wednesday marked Grove City’s 14th-straight victory ... It was the program’s ninth-straight shutout ... Grove City scored twice in a seven-minute span during the first half ... Freshman midfielder Maggie Williams (Mars, Pa. | Mars) opened the scoring at 21:26 when she headed in a free kick by senior defender Claire Kocur (Cranberry Township, Pa. | Seneca Valley) ... The goal was Williams’ 12th of the season ... Senior forward Krista Heckman (Lock Haven, Pa. | Central Mountain) increased the lead to 2-0 at the 28:05 mark ... Heckman’s score came off of an assist by sophomore midfielder Michaela Burke (Gilbert, Ariz. | Gilbert Christian) ... The goal was Heckman’s 10th of the season ... Sophomore Columbia Harkrader (Mineral, Va. | Louisa County) totaled six saves in the shutout ... Chatham sophomore Ashley Bergman (Allison Park, Pa. | Hampton) finished with four stops ... Grove City held a 13-11 edge in shots ... Each team recorded four corner kicks ... Wednesday’s victory was the 300th for 26th-year head coach Melissa Lamie ... She is the 26th active Division III women's soccer coach to be credited with 300 wins. |