{"id":2859,"date":"2026-10-09T20:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2859"},"modified":"2026-10-09T20:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:39:11","slug":"hat-trick-helps-secure-homecoming-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/09\/hat-trick-helps-secure-homecoming-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Hat trick helps secure homecoming win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sam Fetherlin \u00b7 Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Midfielder Noah Gray recorded his second career hat trick on Friday against Chatham. (John Hake)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Four goals in eight minutes helped Grove City College\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team overcome an early deficit against Chatham University on Friday night in front of a Homecoming weekend crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The undefeated Wolverines entered the match as the favorite against Chatham, which had one win this season, but at 3:20, Chatham defender Charlie Ayers headed home a central free kick to take a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took 20 minutes for Grove City to mount a response, but when it did, the game quickly turned in its favor. The tide turned at 21:09 when Ayers was shown a red card for bringing down Grove City senior midfielder Noah Gray on a breakaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A minute later, the Wolverines won a corner kick on the right. Senior defender Theo Campbell curled the ball directly into the far corner of the net, leveling the score at 1-1 and celebrating with his teammates in front of the home fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt felt great to score directly from a corner kick, especially with it being the game-tying goal at home on Homecoming,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI had a lot of family at the game, as well as former teammates at the game, so it was pretty cool to score for them. The bonds I have with guys who have graduated are super strong, so it was awesome to see them and mark the occasion with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campbell also notched an assist at 26:02, again from a corner kick. Senior defender Colton Hudson rose highest to redirect the ball home from six yards out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick pair of goals from Gray in the following few minutes gave Grove City a 4-1 lead, and sophomore forward Andrew Perry registered a fifth before halftime. Perry drove the ball past the diving goalkeeper into the bottom-left corner from well outside the penalty area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt obviously didn\u2019t feel great to concede early,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cBut we knew we were the better team and had a game plan to win. We were never worried and just continued to do the things we knew we had to do to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat stood out to me was our ability to move the ball quickly around Chatham\u2019s defense. We just kept going at them down the flanks, and eventually it paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grove City held a 7-3 edge in first-half shots but stepped it up in the second half, outshooting Chatham 14-0. Gray completed his hat trick at 49:30, and sophomore midfielder Cristian Garcia scored from the penalty spot at 52:15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match finished 7-1, extending Grove City\u2019s perfect start in conference play to 5-0. The win improved its chances of a top two finish and a bye to the playoff semifinals. Winning the conference outright would also ensure home-field advantage for those playoff games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to repeat what we did last year and win the PAC while going undefeated in the conference,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cBeyond that, we want to go on a run in the NCAA tournament, and we have the squad to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines also beat Westminster on Wednesday and will travel to Franciscan University of Steubenville, last year\u2019s PAC runner-up, for a 7 p.m. game Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Fetherlin \u00b7 Staff Writer Four goals in eight minutes helped Grove City College\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team overcome an early deficit against Chatham University on Friday night in front of a Homecoming weekend crowd. The undefeated Wolverines entered the match as the favorite against Chatham, which had one win this season, but at 3:20, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[178,252,245,175,24],"class_list":["post-2859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-soccer","tag-2026-edition","tag-mens-soccer","tag-oct-9-2","tag-sam-fetherlin","tag-sports"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1.webp",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1-300x169.webp",300,169,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1-768x432.webp",768,432,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1-1024x576.webp",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1-1536x864.webp",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/msoc-CMYK-1.webp",1920,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"hannang23","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/hannang23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sam Fetherlin \u00b7 Staff Writer Four goals in eight minutes helped Grove City College\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team overcome an early deficit against Chatham University on Friday night in front of a Homecoming weekend crowd. The undefeated Wolverines entered the match as the favorite against Chatham, which had one win this season, but at 3:20,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2859"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2917,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859\/revisions\/2917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}