Beaver Falls, PA - The Geneva College men′s soccer team may have come up one goal short on the scoreboard in the NCCAA national championship game, but it certainly left an indelible mark on the 2011 tournament field along the way. The Golden Tornadoes, who came into the tournament as the seventh seed and the only non-scholarship team, advanced to the national championship game with victories over the second and third seeds before bowing out to top seeded California Baptist on a late second half goal.
The Golden Tornadoes certainly made believers out of each of the teams that they played along the way and earned the respect of the entire NCCAA tournament field. Senior forward Jake McCracken scored in each of the three games in Florida and was named the tournament′s most outstanding offensive player. Joining McCracken on the All-Tournament team from Geneva were defenseman Jon Mathoslah and freshman goalkeeper Bryan Butler.
"We are so proud of our guys for being named to the All-Tournament team and for the tremendous honor given to Jake as the most outstanding offensive player," said head coach Gary Dunda. "Those individual awards are special but I guarantee those guys would share those awards with their teammates in a second. It was a total team effort all season long and those awards could have gone to any number of our student-athletes. We won games with the idea of team in mind and that is why we were able to be so successful."
Geneva finished the 2011 season with an overall record of 16-6-3, which tied it for the third highest single season win total in school history. The record of 18 victories in a season was set in 1997 and then duplicated one year later. The Golden Tornadoes advanced to the NCCAA national tournament for the first time since last competing on the national stage in 2001.
Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).
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