{"id":2369,"date":"2026-09-11T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/11\/2026-09-11-seniors-spark-strong-start\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:12:10","slug":"2026-09-11-seniors-spark-strong-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/11\/2026-09-11-seniors-spark-strong-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors spark strong\u00a0start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sam Fetherlin<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Midfielder
Midfielder Christian Garcia controls the ball during the men\u2019s soccer draw against Calvin. \u2014 GCC SPORTS INFORMATION<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After its first Presidents\u2019 Athletic Conference (PAC) title in 20 years, Grove City College men\u2019s soccer team earned its first win of the season Friday night with a 2-0 victory over Baldwin Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of first-half goals from senior forward Ryan Merrick, both assisted by senior midfielder Noah Gray, secured the victory for the Wolverines. Merrick gave Grove City the lead at the 11:56 mark by tapping it home at the near post after Gray beat his man down the left. Twelve minutes later, Gray collected the ball in midfield, turned and delivered a through-ball to Merrick, who slid it past the goalkeeper, sparking celebrations from the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grove City outshot Baldwin Wallace 17-9 and held a 9-3 advantage in corner kicks. The Wolverines\u2019 control grew after the Yellow Jackets received a red card at 54:08 for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. Neither team scored in the final 36 minutes, and the Wolverines took home both the win and the shutout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the game, coach Mike Dreves said he was pleased with his team\u2019s effort, especially after a 0-0 draw against Carnegie Mellon three days earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to have a lot of energy tonight,\u201d Dreves said. \u201cI thought it was a bit of a slow start, but then we got a bit more energy and the end of the first half was great. And we were all over them, scoring two goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seniors were on the scoresheet again on Saturday night as the Wolverines hosted Calvin University. The two schools faced off in a rematch of last year\u2019s NCAA Division III Championship Tournament first-round matchup, where Calvin bested Grove City 1-0 in double overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, Calvin went up 1-0 again, converting a penalty kick after two minutes. Grove City struck back at 26:41 with a spectacular shot by Gray, who delivered a first-time, looping effort into the far side of the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game was still tied at halftime, but Merrick added another goal to his season tally soon after the second half began. At 53:11, Gray sent in a corner kick from the left side, and Merrick guided the ball home to give the Wolverines the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the clock wound down, it looked like Grove City would hang on for a second successive victory, but Calvin equalized with just two and a half minutes remaining. A free kick delivered from the right was not dealt with properly, allowing Calvin to secure a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seniors\u2019 continued contributions echoed comments Dreves had made following Friday\u2019s match against Baldwin Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have 35 guys on the roster, eight of them are seniors, so we\u2019re pretty balanced,\u201d he said. \u201cThe seniors, those guys all contribute. They\u2019re culturally great, and I think they\u2019re great players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreves also elaborated on the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t take anything for granted. I talked to them about this before the game: there\u2019s no guarantees, so we have to fight,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just have to earn it. I\u2019m excited for the guys; we\u2019ll see how the conference plays out, but we have an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines will travel to La Roche University Saturday, and the game will kick off at 2 p.m. The team will then return to Don Lyle Field for its first conference game against Bethany College Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After its first Presidents\u2019 Athletic Conference (PAC) title in 20 years, Grove City College men\u2019s soccer team earned its first win of the season Friday night with a 2-0 victory over Baldwin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[175,168,24],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-soccer","tag-sam-fetherlin","tag-issue-2026-09-11","tag-sports"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",647,530,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",150,123,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",300,246,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",647,530,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",647,530,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",647,530,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-30-seniors-spark-strong-start-1.jpg",647,530,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"After its first Presidents\u2019 Athletic Conference (PAC) title in 20 years, Grove City College men\u2019s soccer team earned its first win of the season Friday night with a 2-0 victory over Baldwin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369","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=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2635,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions\/2635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}