Men's Soccer | 11/2/2025 12:05:00 AM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Third-seeded Allegheny College escaped with a 2-1 overtime win on its home field and fifth-seeded Geneva College went on the road to also pull off a 2-1 victory, as both teams advanced in Saturday's Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Men’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinal action.
In their matchup against six seed Washington & Jefferson College, Allegheny (9-7-5) was forced to come from behind after the Presidents scored in the 12th minute on a goal by Jimmy Gogle (Westminster, Md./Westminster). The goal was Gogol’s seventh of the season and gave the Presidents a 1-0 lead they would take into the second half.
W&J (9-8-2) maintained their one-goal advantage until the 73rd minute. Allegheny junior Will Gruca (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) sent a ball into the box to junior Aidan Dyga (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), who slid a shot inside the post to give Allegheny the equalizing goal, which was Dyga’s sixth of the year. Although Allegheny managed to put three shots on net in the final 10 minutes of regulation, all three were saved by the Presidents’ junior goalkeeper Graeme Ewart (Arlington, Va./Yorktown) and the match carried into overtime even at 1-1.
After a scoreless first extra session, the Gators needed just three minutes into the second overtime to score the game winner. Freshman Miguel Narbana (Raleigh, N.C./Broughton) started the game-winning sequence by crossing a ball to the far-right post. That's where freshman Lucas Henderson (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) headed it to back towards junior Cole Bowser (Forest Hill, Md./John Carroll), who redirected the pass into the back of the net for the winning score to send Allegheny into the semifinals for the second year in a row.
Both goalkeepers had solid games, with W&J's Ewart making eight saves while Allegheny sophomore Cadan Bennett (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) made five stops, including three in the second half to keep his team within striking distance to make the comeback.
Next for the Gators in the semifinals is a match at second-seeded Franciscan University (9-8-2). The Gators and the Barons played last year in the semifinals in a match won by Franciscan 4-2. In this year's regular season meeting, Allegheny pulled out a 2-1 victory in Steubenville back on October 22nd. This year’s semifinal is scheduled for a 7:00 pm kickoff Wednesday night.
In the other quarterfinal in Latrobe, Pa., neither Geneva nor No. 4 seed Saint Vincent could find a goal in the first half. Saint Vincent took a very defensive posture, bunkering in while waiting for a possible counterattack. Geneva had the majority of the possession in the opening 45 minutes, generating four corner kicks, but the Golden Tornadoes couldn't get a clean look on any of their chances.
The GTs continued to pressure early in the second half, and Geneva broke through in the 58th minute off their fifth corner kick. Senior Wil Dunda (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) sent a ball into the box that was cleared off the line right to Singh at the top of the box, who immediately sent a blast into the top far corner to give Geneva the 1-0 lead.
Geneva withstood some pressure over the next 25 minutes without allowing the Bearcats to pull level. The Golden Tornadoes put the game away with a minute left when freshman Msafiri Amisi (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) ran onto a ball over the top down the sideline on a counterattack opportunity. Amisi crossed the ball into the box to Singh, who could have tried to score in a one-on-one situation with the Saint Vincent goalie, but he laid the ball off to freshman Travis Miller (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg Area), who blasted the ball into the empty net. Saint Vincent scored on a fortunate bounce off a throw-in with 20 seconds left, but Geneva closed out the victory without further incident.
Saint Vincent (11-4-5) finished the game with an 11-8 edge in shots, but most of those attempts came late and did not threaten the goal. Geneva held a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks.
The Golden Tornadoes (7-9-2) now match up with a familiar opponent in No. 1 seed Grove City College (13-2-2) in the PAC Semifinals. The two programs have squared off in the last two years in the PAC playoffs, with Geneva winning the 2023 PAC Championship with a 1-0 victory over the Wolverines, while Grove City upset Geneva 1-0 in last year's PAC Semifinals. The regular season meeting between the teams was back on October 1st and finished in a 1-1 draw. It was the only blemish for Grove City’s 10-0-1 record this season in PAC play. The match is set to kickoff at 4:30 p.m. at Grove City.
Geneva recap courtesy of Geneva Sports Information