GRINNELL, Iowa – Grinnell College finished its Senior Day men's soccer contest with one celebration, that the result of a 5-0 blanking of Lawrence University at Springer Field.
 
But about 10 minutes after Saturday's victory, another cheerful eruption came from the Pioneers as they watched the end of Ripon College's tie with Knox College, which secured Grinnell's spot in next week's Midwest Conference Tournament.
 
Knox's tie, along with Beloit College's loss a bit earlier, put the Pioneers in fourth place in the MWC standings as they beat out Beloit in the tiebreaker. Grinnell will be the fourth seed in the tourney and play top-seeded tourney host Illinois College on Friday.
 
Billy Cherres '26 recorded a hat trick for Grinnell (8-5-5, 3-3-2 MWC) Saturday as the Pioneers have outscored their last two foes 11-1. Oliver Northing '25 and Dylan Maddux '25 also had goals for Grinnell.
 
It took just 10 minutes before Northing scored what proved to be the winning goal, finding the back of the net for his fifth goal this season and 11^th in his career. Jaxon Willoughby '26 recorded the assist.
 
Just seven minutes later, Cherres recorded a goal on the assist by Ezra Gould '27 as Grinnell led 2-0 at intermission. Two minutes into the next period, Cherres scored again on Willoughby's assist. Cherres completed the hat trick three minutes after that, boosting his season and career goal totals to three.
 
Maddux followed with a goal in the 68^th minute on Anthony Hong's '27 assist. Maddux and Northing lead Grinnell this season with five goals apiece, while Maddux's career total is 12.
 
All three Grinnell keepers, Carter Benson '24, Jefferson Kolmer '24 and Jayson Kunkel '26, saw action. Benson had three saves and Kunkel recorded one.
 
Grinnell won the shots battle over Lawrence (0-10-6, 0-4-4 MWC) by a 26-8 margin, with Cherres, Northing and Hong recording four shots apiece and Peter Murphy '25, Samuel Gojjam '26, Sam Bayliss '24 and Maddux taking two each.