TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - After posting a 7-0-3 conference record through the regular season, Geneva College earned the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage through the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament, as the conference announced the tournament field Wednesday night.

The six-team tournament will start with quarterfinal matches on Saturday, Oct. 28th. The tournament winner will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, which begins the following week.

Admission to all PAC Championship Tournament matches is $5 for adults and $2 for students, with students at PAC host institutions admitted for free with valid identification.

Since beginning PAC play Sept. 23, Geneva (10-4-4 overall) has not lost and rode a 10-match unbeaten stretch to the top seed. The Golden Tornadoes opened league action with seven consecutive victories and have tied their last three matches, including a 3-3 draw with Waynesburg University Wednesday night. As the #1 seed, Geneva, as well as second-seeded Franciscan University (11-4-3, 6-1-3 PAC), earned quarterfinal byes.

Geneva is seeking their second PAC championship, with their first coming in 2016. The Golden Tornadoes have made five straight tournament appearances and last advanced to the title match in 2019.

Franciscan is also in search of their second PAC title, but the Barons are trying to repeat as league champions after a 2-1 triumph over Bethany College in the 2022 title match. It was the second straight trip to the final for Franciscan after they finished as the runner-up in the 2021 Tournament. The Barons are also riding a hot streak, as they are 5-0-3 in their last eight matches entering Tournament play.

A pair of quarterfinal matches, both featuring evening kickoffs, will start Tournament play on Saturday. Grove City College (7-5-5, 6-3-1 PAC) earned the #3 seed and will host sixth-seeded Allegheny College (6-10, 5-5 PAC) Saturday at 7 pm. Grove City, who won three straight to close the regular season by a combined score of 15-1, has a pair of PAC titles in program history and is making its 16th straight trip to the league's championship tournament. Allegheny returned to the PAC last year and has reached the postseason tournament both years. The Gators have five PAC championships to their credit, with the last coming in 1978.

This quarterfinal will be a rematch of the Oct. 11th regular season meeting, also played at Grove City. That day saw Allegheny build a 2-0 lead and hold on for a 2-1 victory over the Wolverines.

The other quarterfinal match also features a 7 pm kickoff, with No. 4 Waynesburg (9-6-2, 5-3-2 PAC) hosting No. 5 Chatham University (6-8-3, 5-3-2 PAC) in a match-up of two programs trying to win their first PAC title. For Waynesburg, they used an offense that ranked second in the PAC with 39 goals this season to reach the conference tournament for the first time since 2014. Chatham is riding momentum into their second-ever PAC Tournament, as the Cougars went 5-1-2 to close out the regular season and clinch their first conference postseason appearance since 2021.

The last team to defeat Chatham before they started their current eight-game stretch was Waynesburg. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Cougars by a 3-1 count in Waynesburg back on Sept. 23.

Saturday's winners will move on to play Nov. 1 in the semifinals. Geneva will take on the winner from the Waynesburg/Chatham match-up and the Grove City/Allegheny winner will make the journey to Steubenville to play Franciscan. Semifinal start times will be finalized and released after Saturday's quarterfinal matches. 

The championship match, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 4, will be hosted by the highest remaining seed following next Wednesday's semifinals. Information on the title match will be announced after the completion of the semifinal round. 

Selections for the 64-team Division III Championship will be announced Monday, Nov. 6. First and second round matchups are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 10-12.