By Sam Fetherlin · Staff Writer
Noah Gray has been a great asset to the men’s soccer team. He currently has 12 goals this season. (GCC Athletics)
Soccer has always been integral to the life of Grove City College senior Noah Gray.
“From a young age, my brother and I played soccer,” Gray said. “It’s been a big part of my life from when I was a kid. The routine was basically school and then soccer pretty much every day. It was a big part of just growing up.”
Now, Gray is preparing to graduate from Grove City College. As he completes his final season, he will leave behind an impressive legacy. Gray ranks among the top 10 for career goals and assists, and last season he helped the Wolverines win their first President’s Athletic Conference (PAC) title in 20 years.
While these successes are important, Gray was hesitant to value statistics and wins too much. Instead, he remembered his college decision-making process. Having attended a Christian high school, he prioritized team culture when choosing between Grove City, Messiah University and Gordon College.
“After I visited the three schools, the decision was pretty easy,” Gray said. “The Grove City culture, even from just one night with the team, I could tell was special and different from the other schools. That’s what sold me.”
Four years later, that team culture remains central to Gray’s Grove City experience. Gray and the seven other seniors on the team immediately developed a meaningful bond as freshmen.
“I know I’m going to be friends with these guys for the rest of my life. They’re going to be in my wedding,” Gray said. “There’s been a constant level of support on and off the field, friendship and love for each other.
Despite these highlights, Gray’s freshman year brought adversity as he struggled for playing time.
“We talk a lot as a team about identity and where soccer should be in the hierarchy of your life,” Gray said. “Not playing exposed me to the fact that soccer was something I was putting on a pedestal in my life.”
This realization helped Gray blossom over the next two seasons, culminating in last year’s PAC title. After the Wolverines lost in the conference final during his first two years at Grove City, the victory felt like overcoming a hurdle.
“It was a huge thing,” Gray said. “It was a special team; we were very tight-knit.”
Through it all, Gray paired impressive offensive production with a humility that stands out to Wolverines coach Mike Dreves.
“Noah is an extremely hard worker and great teammate,” Dreves said. “I am so happy for his success, but more happy for his approach to soccer. He works at it and takes it very seriously, but genuinely realizes that his identity is Christ, which is the most important growth or accomplishment of all. Not only does he score goals, but he creates them as well, and a little too often, as he just passed by me on the all-time assist list,” said Dreves.
As of today, Gray has racked up 35 career goals and 18 career assists.
“It’s very hard not to chase those stats and records,” Gray said. “Our big goal as a team is what we call ‘building a living monument.’ It’s not for us or for our glory. Ultimately, it’s for the glory of God. My goal is to be as good of a teammate as I can, to get a win for the team in any way that I can, and ultimately to glorify God and not myself.”
As Gray’s final season wraps up, he wants to improve on last year’s NCAA tournament appearance.
“My class and the team want to start to put Grove City on the map on a national stage,” he said. “We want to make the Round of 16.”
More importantly, though, Gray wants to make the most of the time he has left.
“(This last season is) definitely bittersweet. … It feels like yesterday I was just a freshman and had three years ahead of me, but now the season is dwindling, and I only have a couple games left in my career,” Gray reflected. “I’m going to look back on these four years and have nothing but good memories.”
