Men's Soccer | 10/28/2026 11:30:00 PM

TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Defending conference champion Grove City College clinched the top seed and home-field advantage through the 2026 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament, as the conference released the tournament schedule late Wednesday night.

The six-team tournament gets underway with quarterfinal matches on Saturday, Oct. 31st. 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.

By posting an 8-1-2 record in PAC play as part of an 11-2-5 overall mark, the Wolverines secured the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament for the second year in a row. Grove City rode that top seed to the PAC crown a season ago. With a 2-0 win over Geneva College in the semifinals and a 1-0 triumph over Franciscan University in the title match, the Wolverines won their third PAC championship and first since 2005.

Grove City and second-seeded Allegheny College (11-6-1, 8-2-1 PAC) both earned byes through to the semifinals. The Gators are the hottest team coming into the tournament, with wins in eight straight matches. That includes a 2-0 victory over Grove City Oct. 17th, the only PAC loss for the Wolverines this year. This is the highest seed Allegheny has earned for the conference tournament since returning to the league in 2022.

Tournament play opens Saturday with a pair of quarterfinal matches. Earning the third seed was Geneva (8-2-5, 6-1-4 PAC) and the Golden Tornadoes will host sixth-seeded Waynesburg University (8-8-2, 5-5-1 PAC) Saturday at 2 pm. Geneva is also on a hot streak, posting a 7-0-4 record in their last 11 matches, a stretch that started with a 3-0 GTs victory at Waynesburg on Sept. 19.

For Waynesburg, this is their first PAC appearance since 2023 and only the second since 2014. The Yellow Jackets reached the PAC semifinals in 2023 before losing to Geneva 3-1 and the GTs went on to win the PAC championship that season.

Saturday's late quarterfinal match will kick off at 7 pm in Steubenville, Ohio, with No. 4 Franciscan (6-6-4, 5-2-4 PAC) hosting No. 5 Hiram College (7-4-5, 5-4-2 PAC). Franciscan is 4-1 in their last five matches coming into postseason play, which helped the Barons clinch a PAC Tournament berth for the sixth consecutive year.

For Hiram, this is their first PAC Tournament appearance ever. The Terriers used wins in their final two games to clinch the program's first postseason appearance since 2012 when they played in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

The first meeting between Franciscan and Hiram this season was on Sept. 19 and ended in a 1-1 draw.

The quarterfinal winners will advance to play Nov. 4th in the semifinals. Grove City will host the winner from the Franciscan/Hiram quarterfinal at 8 pm and the team emerging from the Geneva/Waynesburg match will travel to Meadville, Pa., for a 7:45 pm kickoff at Allegheny. 

The championship match, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7, will be hosted by the highest remaining seed following next Wednesday's semifinals. Information on the title match will be announced following the semifinal round. 

The 64-team NCAA Division III Championship field will be announced Monday, Nov. 9. First and second round matchups are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 13-15.