{"id":1159,"date":"2025-11-14T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/11\/14\/2025-11-14-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:12:46","slug":"2025-11-14-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/11\/14\/2025-11-14-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s soccer:\u00a0PAC-to-PAC-to-PAC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Reagan Thomas<\/a> · Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"TOP:
TOP: The women\u2019s soccer team, celebrating with the PAC trophy. \u2014 JOHN HAKE<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Grove City College women\u2019s soccer team delivered under pressure last weekend at Don Lyle Field, earning its third consecutive PAC championship with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Waynesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The win extended the Wolverines\u2019 program-record shutout streak to 11 matches and secured an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the opening whistle, Grove City showed its intent. Freshman forward Lauren Muhanna broke the deadlock in the 14th minute, slotting home her sixth goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Kiara White. That early strike proved decisive as the Wolverines leaned on their defensive strength to close out the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior goalkeeper Maddie Mills anchored the back line with 10 saves \u2014 just one shy of her career high \u2014 earning her eighth full shutout of the season. Mills admitted the final minutes were intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the last few minutes, I was locked in. I knew that if the ball came to me, I would have to do everything in my power to keep it out of the net. I was not about to let them tie it up, go into overtime and maybe even PKs,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waynesburg entered the match with a conference-leading 69 goals on the season, but Grove City\u2019s defense held firm. Mills credited the team\u2019s collective effort for the historic streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have worked very hard, have great individual defenders and a strong possession game. But it also takes a good amount of luck to maintain a streak like this. Dumb goals happen all the time, goals that even the best keeper in the world could not stop. It is an amazing streak, but we are not playing to protect it; we are playing for our team vision and our goals for this season,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That vision is rooted in faith \u2014 a defining feature of the program\u2019s culture. On the back of every jersey is \u201cAO1\u201d, a reminder that they play for an audience of One.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am playing for God, so it doesn\u2019t matter who comes to my game, even in big games like these when the stands are packed. I love when a lot of people come, but I don\u2019t let that make me nervous because I have nothing to prove and only God to please,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior defender Hannah Costa, a cornerstone of the back line, echoed that perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning to me personally is an amazing feeling. But playing with people I love and knowing I play for God and he gave me the ability to play soccer is such an amazing feeling,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills agreed, noting the trust and communication that define the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy defensive line and I are all united under the same goal, and our relationship is very close-knit. We have an understanding that if one of us makes a mistake, the others will cover, no matter what it takes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond tactics, Costa pointed to a tradition that reflects the team\u2019s deeper purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA tradition that started last year that I love \u2014 especially when we go to the NCAA tournament \u2014 is sharing the gospel with the other team after the game. I think what helps our team to have success this year is trying to play in the freedom of joy and knowing we are not playing for ourselves but playing for God,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costa offered advice for younger players hoping to make an impact. \u201cGet out of your comfort zone. You may not like it at the moment, but it is so rewarding. Everything takes time \u2014 it does not happen instantly. You may have to go through rocky patches to see the reward. It\u2019s all in God\u2019s hands,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the win, Grove City improved to 13-4-2 and claimed its 10th all-time PAC title. The Wolverines will make their eighth NCAA tournament appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines will travel to Grand Rapids, Mich. to face Illinois Tech in the first round of the tournament at 1 p.m. today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BOTTOM:
BOTTOM: The women\u2019s soccer seniors, enjoying their three-peat. \u2014 JOHN HAKE<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Grove City College women\u2019s soccer team delivered under pressure last weekend at Don Lyle Field, earning its third consecutive PAC championship with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Waynesburg. The win extended<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[201],"tags":[39,59,24],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens-soccer","tag-issue-2025-11-14","tag-reagan-thomas","tag-sports"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",1280,849,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",150,99,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",300,199,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",768,509,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",1024,679,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",1280,849,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-29-womens-soccer-pac-to-pac-to-pac-1.jpg",1280,849,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Grove City College women\u2019s soccer team delivered under pressure last weekend at Don Lyle Field, earning its third consecutive PAC championship with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Waynesburg. The win extended","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1860,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions\/1860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}