Joyous endings coupled with heartbreak can describe the weekend that was Geneva athletics. While the fall athletic season came to an end, the Geneva basketball teams opened their new season as winter approaches. The weekend opened with disappointment in menâ??s soccer and ended in jubilation from Greenville, IL. In between was a womenâ??s soccer game for the ages that had everything but a victory included within those three hours.

The Geneva menâ??s soccer team brought a 15-4 overall record and a nine-game winning streak into the NCCAA east region tournament, but a 4-2 loss to Roberts Wesleyan in the semi-finals brought an abrupt end to the season. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, Zach Buffalini got Geneva on the board. Jake McCracken scored a second half goal, but it wasnâ??t enough to get the Golden Tornadoes into the finals where Mt. Vernon Nazarene ultimately won the regional. Congratulations to Coach Beall and the menâ??s team for a 15-5 final season record.

Genevaâ??s women came within a penalty kick of gaining their first NCCAA National tournament bid. The Golden Tornadoes tied Roberts Wesleyan through 90 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. The match was decided on penalty kicks and it took 12 kickers from each side before a decision was reached. Roberts Wesleyan won the penalty kick match 7-6 and moved on to the national tournament. The Golden Tornadoes finished their season with a 9-9 record and with their best performance of the season in Rochester, NY.

Geneva trailed Greenville 28-26 with 2:05 on the clock and the Golden Tornadoes had the ball at their own three yard line. A few minutes later, Nick DiPietro was nailing a 20-yard field goal to give Geneva a dramatic 29-28 victory and their record fifth NCCAA football title. David Girardi guided Geneva down the field in the final two minutes to get into field goal range and pick up the victory to finish the season with an 8-3 overall record. Gerard Muschette scored three touchdowns and rushed for 113 yards in being named the offensive MVP of the Victory Bowl. Muschette finished the season with 1183 yards, the fifth highest single season total in school history. He also led the PAC in scoring with 92 total points. Geneva became the first team in the country to capture five Victory Bowl titles in its record six appearances. Congratulations to Coach DeMarco and the GTâ??s on a job well done.

With one season ending, another began last week as the menâ??s and womenâ??s basketball teams tipped of their seasons. The womenâ??s team went 2-1 last week including an impressive 84-75 victory over Point Park on Saturday night. Geneva opened the week by splitting a pair of games at the LaRoche College Tournament. Geneva defeated Carlow before falling to LaRoche in the finals. Renee Rawding scored 35 points in the tournament and surpassed the 900 point plateau for her career. On Saturday night, four players finished in double figures with Val Hamilton leading the way with 19 points.

Genevaâ??s men split a pair of games at the Coaches vs. Cancer Tip-Off tournament over the weekend. After cruising past Penn State New Kensington, Geneva lost to Marymount College 91-81 in the finals on Saturday. Rich Colick and Brandon Harvey were each named to the All-Tournament team. Colick scored 28 points in Saturdayâ??s loss while Harvey posted a 19 point performance against Marymount. The Golden Tornadoes have three games coming up this week including a meeting with NCAA Division I Youngstown State and former head coach Jerry Slocum on Tuesday night.

Following is the athletic schedule for the week of November 23:

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