TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Soccer Tournament got underway Saturday night with a pair of quarterfinal matches that saw both higher seeded teams pull out victories, as No. 3 Grove City College and No. 4 Waynesburg University advanced to the PAC semifinals.

The Wolverines (8-5-5) were pushed to overtime by visiting six-seed Allegheny College (6-11), but Grove City scored in the first extra session and held on for a 2-1 victory. Meanwhile, Waynesburg (10-6-2) put three first-half goals on the board against fifth-seeded Chatham University (6-9-3) and went on to post a 4-1 triumph.

In the quarterfinal in Grove City, Allegheny jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute off an unassisted goal by Gator freshman Aidan Dyga (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) . The Wolverines would strike back in the 26th minute on a goal by sophomore Owen Zimmerman (New Kensington, Pa./Kiski Area). Junior John-Luc Harbour (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield) assisted on the goal, which evened the score at 1-1. The team's backlines controlled the rest of the half, as neither team put a shot on net and the match went to intermission tied at 1-1.

The second half saw more chances on goal, but the goalkeepers maintained the tie. Allegheny sophomore keeper Caleb Kendra (Beaver Falls, Pa./Riverside) made four saves after halftime, while Grove City sophomore Teddy Almeter (Monroeville, Pa./Serra Catholic) stopped three shots, including one attempt in the 87th minute. A little more a minute later, Allegheny had another threat, but it was cleared away by Wolverine defender Matt Kimmich (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) and the match pushed into overtime still even at 1-1.

The deadlocked score looked like it would carry into the second overtime. Then with 1:55 left in the period, Grove City broke the tie when Harbour assisted on his second goal of the night, this time setting up junior Hunter Hardin (North Ridgeville, Ohio/Freeport) for the go-ahead scored. The second OT period still had to be played and Almeter would turn aside two shots in that period to preserve the Wolverine lead and send them into the semifinal round.

With the victory, Grove City now advances to take on the second seed and defending PAC champion, Franciscan University (11-4-3) on Wed., Nov. 1. The match-up, which is a replay of a 3-1 Grove City victory back on Sept. 23, will flip sites from that game and be played in Steubenville, Ohio. Kickoff for the Franciscan/Grove City semifinal is set for 7 pm.

The other quarterfinal match didn't come down to the very end, thanks to Waynesburg's early offensive outburst. Yellow Jacket freshman Zachary Johnson (Raceland, Ky./Saint Joseph Central Catholic) struck for goals in the 13th and 26th minutes, both off assists from freshman Vincent Palmeri (Edgewater, Md./The Key School), to give the home team a 2-0 advantage. The lead grew to 3-0 in the 35th minute on a score by sophomore Nick Bryan (Olathe, Kan./Blue Valley Southwest), which is where the score stood at halftime.

Chatham put a goal on the board in the 60th minute when freshman Luke Matzelle (Palm Harbor, Fla./East Lake) had an unassisted score. However, Waynesburg would close the scoring and secure their berth in the PAC semifinals when junior Connor Jacobs (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) finished off an assist from graduate student Samuel Hawkins (Great Mills, Md/Great Mills) in the 73rd minute for the final 4-1 margin.

The Yellow Jackets next opponent will be top-seed Geneva College (10-4-4), with the match scheduled for a 7 pm start on the Golden Tornadoes' home field in Beaver Falls. The teams just played a wild match on Oct. 25th in the regular season finale. The match had three goals scored in the final seven minutes, including a PK by Geneva with 1:02 remaining that ended the match in a 3-3 draw.

The semifinal winners will move on to the championship match, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 4, which 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.