July 23, 2007
Grove City College inducting 3 into Men's Soccer Hall
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Grove City College will induct three former standouts into its Men's Soccer Hall of Fame as part of Homecoming weekend October 6.
Bill Buchanan '66, Angelo Mariotti '78 and Gary Tissue '80 comprise the Class of 2007. They are the 19th, 20th and 21st inductees into the Men's Soccer Hall of Fame.
A posthumous inductee, Buchanan earned four letters as a halfback from 1962-65. As a senior co-captain in 1965, Buchanan helped lead the Wolverines to an 8-0-1 overall record, including an invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament. As a freshman in 1962, he helped Grove City advance to its first-ever NCAA Tournament.
During his four years at Grove City, the Wolverines compiled a 29-7-2 overall record, including a 17-0-1 mark in his last two years. The 1964 team went 9-0-0, the best record, percentage-wise, in Grove City history.
Buchanan perished in an automobile crash prior to graduation in May 1966. In 1967, the men's soccer program named its Most Valuable Player and Outstanding Junior awards in his memory.
Mariotti earned four letters at right back in the mid-1970s for Grove City, helping the Wolverines secure four consecutive winning seasons. In 1976, Mariotti played a pivotal role in Grove City advancing to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament quarterfinals. Grove City's fifth-place national finish that year is the best finish by any Grove City College team in an NCAA Championship.
Grove City posted the first double-digit win total in program history in 1976, finishing 10-3-1. As a senior captain in 1977, Mariotti's defensive work helped the Wolverines re-break the program's record for season wins as Grove City recorded an 11-3-0 record.
He earned First Team honors from the West Penn Intercollegiate Soccer Conference as a senior and capped his career as a student-athlete by receiving the College's ODK/Mortar Board Sportsman of the Year award.
A teammate of Mariotti for two seasons, Tissue helped Grove City to one of its most successful four-year runs ever from 1976-79. During that time, Grove City compiled an aggregate 39-11-2 mark. In 1979, Tissue captained Grove City's 10-2 squad. He also played on the 1976 squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
For his play at back, Tissue earned First Team All-WPISC and Honorable Mention All-America honors as a senior. A three-year letterman, he also earned Grove City's Sportsman of the Year award for the 1979-80 academic year.
The three honorees will be introduced and recognized before the annual Hall of Fame Game October 6, which features alumni against current varsity players. This is the seventh class of inductees since the Hall's establishment in 2001.