LAKE FOREST, Ill. – For the third time in four seasons, Grinnell College's men's soccer team has propelled itself into the Midwest Conference Tournament championship match.
 
The Pioneers, who just a few weeks ago played Beloit College to a 1-all draw, blasted the Buccaneers 2-0 in a semifinal round rematch Friday afternoon at Lake Forest College's Farwell Field.
 
Grinnell will meet the nationally-ranked Foresters, a 3-0 semifinal round winner over Ripon College, in Saturday's title match. The winner of that contest earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Grinnell and Beloit were tied 0-all at halftime before the Pioneers did all their damage in a two-minute span of the second stanza.
 
Jaxon Willoughby '26 opened the scoring in the 55^th minute with a goal assisted by Demi Oni. On the play, Oni outran his opponent for a ball down the right sideline. Oni fired a perfect cross from right to left to Willoughby, who never broke stride and tapped the ball into the lower left portion of the net from close range. It was Willoughby's third goal of the season and 11^th in his career, while Oni's assist was his team-high fifth of the year.
 
Just two minutes later, another senior – Oliver Northing '26 – found the back of the net. The ball was batted around inside the box when Northing found it and booted it from the left side of the goal into the bottom right portion of the net from 5 yards out. It was Northing's team-high seventh goal of the season and 22^nd in his career. He is just one goal away from the program's all-time top 10 in that category.
 
Grinnell keepers Jack Alexander '29 and Jayson Kunkel '26 shared duties, with Alexander working 85 minutes and Kunkel five. Their combined efforts resulted in the Pioneers' fourth shutout of the season.
 
The Pioneers absolutely dominated the contest, outshooting Beloit 17-5 and getting off 10 corners compared to two for the Buccaneers. Samuel Gojjam '27 paced Grinnell's balanced attack with four shots, while Northing and Willoughby tallied three apiece. Oliver Klemm '29 contributed two shots while Oni, Ian O'Loughlin '28, Moise Milenge '26, Ezra Gould '27 and Jake Brecknock '28 added one each.
 
Grinnell, the tourney's third seed, improved to 6-7-5 while advancing to its 19^th MWC Tourney title match in program history. The second-seeded Buccaneers finished at 7-9-4.
 
Saturday's championship match between Grinnell and the 19^th-ranked Foresters kicks off at 1 p.m. at Farwell Field.