November 12, 2005
Grove City upsets McDaniel, advances to ECAC finals
BALTIMORE -- The Grove City College men's soccer team will play for the 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Championship Sunday afternoon. The fourth-seeded Wolverines (13-5-5) advanced to the finals with a 1-1, shootout victory over top-seeded McDaniel (Md.) in the ECAC semifinals at Johns Hopkins University's Homewood Field.
Grove City will play either No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins or third-seeded Swarthmore in the finals Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
After 110 minutes of play, the teams advanced to a shootout. Senior forward Nate Jones (Haymarket, Va./Emmanuel Christian) put Grove City up 1-0 in the shootout. McDaniel tied the shootout at 1-1 but Wolverine junior Jonathan Breese (Mercer, Pa./Mercer) scored, giving Grove City a 2-1 edge.
Grove City carried that lead into the final round of the shootout when sophomore goalkeeper Michael Manahan (State College, Pa./State College) stopped McDaniel's Thomas Kane and sealed the win. Manahan stopped six shots during the match, including two in the first overtime session.
Following a scoreless first half, Kane gave McDaniel, the regular season champions of the Centennial Conference, a 1-0 lead at 51:29. Grove City rallied at the 61:14 mark, though, as junior forward Bob McNees (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) scored his 19th goal of the season.
Sophomore Chad Ashby (High Point, N.C./Wesleyan Academy) supplied the assist, the first of his career. Ashby booted a cross from the right wing to McNees, who scored from 10 yards out.
McDaniel (14-4-3) outshot Grove City, 14-10, but the Wolverines did own a 5-3 shot edge in overtime.
Grove City is looking for its first ECAC title since the 1996 team capped a 16-2 season by winning the ECAC title that year. It would be Grove City College's first ECAC team title since the 2001 volleyball team.