JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Grinnell College's men's soccer squad used a late-season surge to work its way into the final spot of the four-team field of the Midwest Conference Tournament.
 
Now, the Pioneers will be playing for the tourney title.
 
The fourth-seeded Pioneers advanced from Friday afternoon's semifinal round with a thrilling 1-0, double-overtime victory over top seed and host Illinois College.
 
Grinnell, the lone team to beat Illinois College in MWC regular-season play, repeated the feat Friday thanks to a shutout performance at keeper by Carter Benson '24 and a goal early in the second overtime by Samuel Gojjam '27.
 
On the game-winning goal, Gojjam corralled a ball in the left side of the box on a counter play. He beat his defender, knocking a line drive past the Illinois College keeper and into the bottom right portion of the net.
 
The goal came shortly after Benson leaped high into the air to catch a strong corner kick by the Blueboys on the other end of the pitch.
 
Benson finished the contest with six saves as he recorded his third individual shutout of the season. As a team, Grinnell has eight shutouts this season.
 
Grinnell, which was outshot 17-11, got three shots from Zak Serby '25 and two each from Anthony Hong '27, Dylan Maddux '25 and Jaxon Willoughby '26. Gojjam and Oliver Northing '25 had one shot apiece.
 
Grinnell improved to 9-5-5 with the win, while the Blueboys bow out at 10-5-3. The Pioneers will play third-seeded Lake Forest College, a 2-0 winner over second-seeded Cornell College, in the title match at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
Grinnell and Lake Forest also played in last year's MWC Tourney championship match, a contest the Foresters won. This marks the Pioneers' 17^th trip to the tournament title match.