Grace College’s men’s soccer program poses before boarding a bus to Baldwin City, Kansas, to take on Baker University Saturday in the NAIA National Tournament. (Photos provided)

WINONA LAKE – It’s not often that a team is ready to get on a bus and drive to Kansas. For Matt Hotchkin and his Grace College men’s soccer program, the ride to Oz will be a welcomed one.

After achieving something for just the second time in school history, the men’s team got on the bus Thursday morning and headed for Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. The ability to put the hoopla of making the NAIA National Tournament for just the second time in program history, and its first appearance since 1982, was a unique opportunity to get back to business.

“It (was) nice to get on the bus and just get back to normal,” Hotckin said as his team embarked on its road trip Thursday from Winona Lake. “There hasn’t been much normalcy since we won the title. The school is excited, our team is excited, and the week has really just flown by. Winning the conference was something the guys have never done before. So getting on the bus this morning was a relief to get back to normal and get going.”

The wild ride for the Lancers (12-4-4) to make the 8 p.m. matchup this Saturday against the Wildcats saw the Lancers emerge as champions of the Crossroads League in dramatic fashion. After using a bicycle kick from Marcelo Talamas in the 89th minute to send Grace to the final over Goshen (2-1), Nikola Djordjevic scored perhaps the biggest goal in club history when his winner in the 98th minute sent Grace to a 4-3 overtime win at top-seeded Spring Arbor last Saturday. As Crossroads League champions, Grace earned the automatic NAIA berth, the only league team to make the national tournament.

Grace keeper Kurt Hamlin has garnered five conference and national honors already this season.

The Lancers have the offense to keep pace with the No. 5 Wildcats. Damon Binkley comes in leading Grace with seven goals and Ulisses Miranda has six goals this year. Head-to-head, Baker holds just a four shot advantage (273-269), but Grace has put 14.2 shots on target per game while Baker is just at 13.1 per match. The Wildcats have three scorers fully capable of putting points on the board with Blake Levine (9 goals, 14 assists), Joseph Houlihan (9 g) and Austin Halsey (8 g).

“This will be a tough one,” Hotchkin said of Baker. “They are a physical team, tall, aggressive. They have consistently been in the top 10 all season.

“They play on turf, and their field is only 72 yards wide, which is different than what we are accustomed to, so we will have to change our game. They are an experienced team with five straight appearances in the national tourney, so we’ll be the underdog. We like being the underdog.”

Grace goalkeeper Kurt Hamlin has also been a lynchpin in the run to the NAIA, starting all 20 matches for the Lancers as the only keeper on the active roster. Hamlin has completed seven clean slates this season, but only one since Oct. 4. The ability for Hamlin and his defensive mates to rally from adversity has become part of the Lancer identity.

“We can’t get to where we are at without him,” Hotchkin said of his keeper. “He’s Mr. Steady. We always let the guys know ‘Don’t run into Kurt’ at practice. I can’t count the number of point-blank shots he has blocked. He’s has almost one big save every game.”

Grace’s unique roster build, which features players from nine different countries and 14 total internationals, makes for quite the melting pot. Hotchkin’s ability to assemble the different styles and attitudes from around the globe, playing to strengths versus a scouting report, has been key in using soccer as a homogenous force.

“Our focus is on the team, to win, how do we represent Grace,” Hotchkin said of the opportunity. “Our guys have done a tremendous job of playing to each other’s strengths, and we’ve put them in position to play to those. Sometimes in takes us 15-20 minutes to find the rhythm, but we’ve been fortunate to be able to figure it out.”

Should Grace find victory Saturday night, they would advance to the Elite 8 in Delray Beach, Fla., against either No. 12 Columbia or Northwestern Ohio.