Men's Soccer | 10/29/2025 11:15:00 PM

TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - After completing the regular season with a 10-0-1 league record, Grove City College has secured the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage through the 2025 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament, as the conference announced the tournament field late Wednesday night.

The six-team tournament will kick off with quarterfinal matches on Saturday, Nov. 1st. The tournament winner will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

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.

The Wolverines earned the top spot for the conference tournament for the first time since 2022 after going undefeated through the 12-match PAC slate. The only blemish on Grove City's PAC record was a 1-1 draw with Geneva College on Oct. 1 and the Wolverines outscored league foes 37-7 while posting five shutouts in conference action. Overall this year, Grove City is 13-2-2 and on a 13-match unbeaten string dating back to a 1-0 setback at Penn State Behrend Sept. 10th.

Grove City is pursuing its third PAC championship, which would be their first since 2005. The Wolverines have been in the title match each of the last two seasons, only to fall 1-0 at top-seeded Geneva in 2023 and 2-1 in last year's final at No. 1 Franciscan.

In addition to Grove City, defending champion and second seed Franciscan (9-8-2, 7-2-2 PAC) has a bye into the semifinals. The Barons won six in a row to open PAC play, including five consecutive shutouts, to be positioned in the top two in the standings.

Franciscan's title last year was their second in three years, as the Barons also won in 2022, and the program has been in the Tournament final in three of the last four years.

Two Saturday quarterfinal matches will start Tournament play. The third seed will be Allegheny College (8-7-5, 6-3-2 PAC) and the Gators will host sixth-seeded Washington & Jefferson College (9-7-2, 5-5-1 PAC) Saturday at 3 pm. This is the fourth year in a row Allegheny has clinched a spot in the PAC Tournament and their highest seed in that run after reaching the semifinals last year as the fourth seed before losing to the eventual champion Franciscan. Allegheny has won five PAC titles, with the last coming in 1978.

W&J, who has won five PAC titles in their program history, followed a similar path to qualifying for the second year in a row. Last year, the Presidents used a 1-0 win over Westminster in the regular season finale to clinch a berth, and on Wednesday, W&J edged Westminster 1-0 again in the final game to secure their spot.

The regular season match between Allegheny and W&J was also played in Meadville back on Oct. 8 and the Presidents came away with a 1-0 victory. Since Allegheny rejoined the PAC in 2022, the teams have split their four meetings.

Saturday's second quarterfinal match will kickoff at 4 pm in Latrobe, Pa., with No. 4 Saint Vincent College (11-3-5, 5-2-4 PAC) hosting No. 5 Geneva College (6-9-2, 5-4-2 PAC). Saint Vincent began PAC play with a loss, but recovered to earn at least one point in nine of their final 10 matches, as they not only clinched a berth in the PAC Tournament for the first time ever, but will host their first ever home playoff game Saturday.

While Saint Vincent is new to the postseason, Geneva is a PAC Tournament veteran. The Golden Tornadoes, the 2023 PAC champions, have reached the conference semifinals in five of the last six years.

This will be the teams' second meeting at SVC this year after the Bearcats edged Geneva 1-0 on Oct. 8. It was Saint Vincent's first win over the GTs since October of 2008.

The quarterfinal winners will advance to play Nov. 5th in the semifinals. Grove City will host the winner from the Saint Vincent/Geneva quarterfinal at 4:30 pm and the victorious team from the Allegheny/W&J match-up will journey to Steubenville, Ohio for a 7 pm clash with Franciscan. 

The championship match, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8tth, 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. 10. First and second round matchups are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 15-16.