GROVE CITY, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Grove City College put 16 goals on the scoreboard in the first half and rolled to a 27-3 victory over visiting Saint Vincent College Saturday night, as the Wolverines captured their fourth consecutive Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Lacrosse Tournament championship.

The Wolverines improved their record to 10-8 this season, including a 9-0 mark against PAC teams this season. Saint Vincent's season ends with a 15-3 record, which ties the program record from 2018 for single-season wins.

Following the Championship game, Grove City senior midfielder Brett Gladstone (Marriottsville, Md./Marriotts Ridge) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. He scored eight goals and 14 points in the Wolverines's two Tournament victories.

As the winner of the PAC Championship Tournament, Grove City will receive the conference's automatic-qualifying bid to the Division III Championship. The 38-team field for this year’s Division III Championship is scheduled to be announced Sunday, May 7. First round games are scheduled for Wednesday, May 10.
 

Saturday, May 6

PAC Championship Tournament [Championship Game] No. 1 Grove City 27, No. 2 Saint Vincent 3 Thorn Field - Grove City, Pa.

Twelve Grove City players scored goals to help lift the Wolverines to a 27-3 home victory Saturday night over second-seeded Saint Vincent ... Top-seeded Grove City stormed out to a 6-1 lead after one quarter, then broke open the game with a 10-goal blitz in the second period to take a 16-3 lead at halftime ...Senior Brett Gladstone (Marriottsville, Md./Marriotts Ridge) led Grove City's offensive outburst by scoring a season-high six goals, while sophomore Zachary Hougan (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) and freshman Kobi Bui (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) each fired in four goals ... The Wolverines also received two goals each from sophomore Matt Blythe (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima), junior Luke Jayne (Vero Beach, Fla./Saint Andrew's), sophomore Alec Jones (Chesterfield, N.J./Notre Dame) and sophomore Jason Muench (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) ... Defensively, Grove City forced 27 Saint Vincent turnovers and limited the Bearcats to a 9-for-17 performance on clears ... Senior Brock Simmons (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) led Grove City with five ground balls, while freshman Ryan Evans (Crofton, Md./DeMatha), senior Jack Petit (Pensacola, Fla./West Florida High School of Advanced Technology) senior Max Chmura (Wadsworth, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary), freshman Sean Mahoney (Fort Myers, Fla./Canterbury) and freshman Jackson Kennedy (Snohomish, Wash./Monroe) all collected three ground balls ... Petit earned the win in goal by stopping seven shots ... He played the first half, then closed out the final 66 seconds of the win and in between, junior Danny Stone (Chantilly, Va./Flint Hill) stopped all five shots on goal he faced in his 28:54 of action ... For their play in the Tournament, which saw Grove City outscore their two opponents 50-13, Gladstone was named the Most Outstanding Player and Hougan, senior David Kraus (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), Muench and Simmons were named to the All-Tournament Team ... For Saint Vincent, seniors Jacob Visalli (Palm Harbor, Fla./Calvary Christian), Caleb Hawkins (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) and Jordan Billet (York, Pa./West York) scored goals, while senior Andrew Coholich (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) and Matthew Cassidy (York, Pa./York Catholic) had assists ... Also for the Bearcats, sophomore Brady Beard (Shepherdstown, W.Va./Spring Mills) scooped nine ground balls and senior Brody McMahon (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) totaled give ground balls and three caused turnovers ... Earning All-Tournament Team recognition for the Bearcats was Billet, Hawkins, McMahon and graduate student goalie Noah Sperling (Gibsonia, Pa./North Catholic).

 

Wednesday, May 3

PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 1] No. 2 Saint Vincent 9, No. 3 Westminster 7 UPMC Field - Latrobe, Pa.

Saint Vincent led 4-1 at the half and despite being outscored 6-5 in the second half, the Bearcats used a four-goal fourth quarter to secure the win against Westminster in the semifinals for the second season in a row ... The Bearcats started the scoring with first-quarter goals by sophomore Justin Wodarek (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) and senior Andrew Coholich (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) to take a 2-0 lead into the second period ... Westminster sophomore Gavin Jones (Henrico, Va./Douglas S. Freeman) got the Titans on the board early in the second quarter to cut the SVC lead in half at 2-1 ... Saint Vincent would answer with goals by senior Caleb Hawkins (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) and senior Jacob Visalli (Palm harbor, Fla./Calvary Christian) to push the lead to 4-1 and the defense held strong over the final three minutes, as the three-goal lead held going into halftime ... The Bearcats scored first in the third quarter on a goal by freshman Jonathan Nagy (York, Pa./Central York) to take their largest lead of the game at 5-1, but the Titans responded with three goals over the next nine minutes ... Jones scored once in a man-up opportunity and junior Jimmy Sentz (Catonsville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) scored two goals, as Westminster trimmed the SVC lead to 5-4 with 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter ... Saint Vincent then scored the next two goals, as Coholich finished off an assist from senior Jordan Billet (York, Pa./West York) and Hawkins scored his first of three goals in the quarter to give SVC a 7-4 lead with eight minutes remaining ... Jones would score again for the Titans to cut the lead to 7-5 but two goals in the closest the Titans would get  ... Hawkins scored two more goals, with one coming on an assist from Billet, to seal the Bearcats trip to the PAC Championship ... The key to the game was the play in net by Saint Vincent graduate goalie Noah Sperling (Gibsonia, Pa./North Catholic), who made a career-high 17 saves, while senior Brody McMahon (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) was dominant on defense with two caused turnovers and three ground balls ... Hawkins led all scorers in the game with four goals, including three critical tallies in the fourth period, while Billet assisted on three scores and Coholich finished with two goals ... Jones paced the Titans attack with a hat trick and scooped four ground balls and Sentz scored twice, while senior Mike Roman (Norristown, Pa./Germantown Academy) and freshman Jahiem Hawkins (Huntington Station, N.Y./Huntington) both had five ground balls.

 

Wednesday, May 3

PAC Championship Tournament [Semifinal 2] No. 1 Grove City 23, No. 4 Allegheny 10 Thorn Field - Grove City, Pa.

Grove City put 14 first-half goals on the board and didn't look back in taking a 23-10 victory over Allegheny ...  The three-time defending champions Grove City took a 1-0 lead on a goal by sophomore Zachary Hougan (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) less than three minutes into the game, but that was answered with a score by Gator senior Ryan Therkorn (Falls Church, Va./George C. Marshall) 28 seconds later and when Allegheny junior Nick Gralewski (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) scored on a man-up opportunity, the visitors led 2-1 ... The Wolverines would control the rest of the half from there, striking four times before the end of the first period with graduate student Brett Gladstone (Marriotsville, Md./Marriots Ridge) and junior Luke Jayne (Vero Beach, Fla./Saint Edward's) providing a goal and one assist each in that stretch ... In the second quarter, the Wolverines exploded for nine goals, including the first five of the period which swelled their lead to 11-2 midway through the period ... The teams alternated goals the rest of the half but when sophomore Matt Blythe (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) scored with eight seconds remaining, Grove City's lead was 14-5 going into halftime ... After posting the first goal of the game, Hougan would strike for three during the second quarter, while freshman Rigdon Greene (Marietta, Ga./Pope) had a pair ... Allegheny needed to score early and often in the second half to mount a comeback and the Gators did put three of the first four goals on the board after halftime ... Freshman Gideon Sullivan (Getzville, N.Y./Cathedral (Ind.)) scored twice and Gralewski's goal with 11:12 left in the third trimmed Allegheny's deficit to 15-8 ... Grove City quickly responded to put the game out of reach, scoring three straight goals to push the lead back to 18-8 and they would secure the win with four more tallies in the final quarter for the decisive victory ... Gladstone spearheaded the GCC attack with two goals and five assists, while Hougan had five points (4g/1a) and Blythe scored four goals as well ... Freshman Kobi Bui (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) posted three goals and one assist and his four points was matched by Greene and Jayne with two goals and two assists each ... Senior David Kraus (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) posted a Grove City team-high with five ground balls and matched two others with two caused turnovers ... Sullivan (four) and Gralewski (two) led the Gators' goal scorers, while junior Aidan D'Amato (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) totaled one goal and four assists ... Therkorn finished the evening with one goal and a game-high nine ground balls.