GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's and women's soccer teams will both begin NCAA Division III Championship Tournament play Friday afternoon in the first round of the respective 64-team tournaments.
The men's team will face Calvin at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Geneva, N.Y., at Hobart College. The women's team plays Illinois Tech at 1 p.m. Friday in Grand Rapids, Mich., at Calvin University.
Both Grove City soccer teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference title. The men won their first title in 20 years Saturday afternoon by earning a 1-0 win over visiting Franciscan at Don Lyle Field. The women's team earned its third consecutive crown Saturday night by blanking Waynesburg, 1-0, in the conference tournament title match.
The Grove City men will make their fourth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. The Wolverines (15-2-2) enter the tournament on a 10-match win streak, as well as a 15-match unbeaten streak (14-0-1). Grove City went 10-0-1 in conference play
Calvin (16-3-1) won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association title for the fourth straight season by securing a 2-0 win Saturday afternoon at archrival Hope. The Knights own a five-match win streak and are 9-1-1 over their last 11 matches.
Grove City visited Calvin during the regular season September 20. Thunderstorms halted the match with 33 minutes remaining, with Calvin owning a 1-0 lead. The match result and statistics did not count for either team due to the game being halted.
The Grove City-Calvin winner will face either Hobart (13-0-5) or Messiah (11-7-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Those two teams meet Friday at 11 a.m.
On the women's side, Grove City (13-4-2) faces Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champion Illinois Tech (19-1-1) in Friday's first round. Grove City will make its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth overall national playoff appearance.
The Wolverines have won 11 straight matches, all by shutout. The 11 consecutive shutouts are the most in program history while the 11-match win streak is Grove City's longest in seven seasons.
Illinois Tech, the top seed among the four teams that will play at Calvin this weekend, won the NACC title with a 3-1 win Saturday over Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Chicago-based Scarlet Hawks have won nine straight matches.
Illinois Tech advanced to the third round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Grove City fell at Misericordia in the first round of last year's national playoffs.
This will be the first meeting between the Wolverines and the Scarlet Hawks. The Grove City-Illinois Tech victor will play either Calvin or Penn State Behrend at 3 p.m. Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich.
This is the first time that both Grove City soccer teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in the same season.
