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The Men's Soccer Academic All-America Team Member of the Year is the annual most outstanding singular college soccer athlete of the set of male soccer athletes selected for the Academic All-America Teams in a given year. The Academic All-America program recognizes combined athletic and academic excellence of the nation's top student-athletes because the All-America teams are selected based on excellence in both classroom achievement and athletic competition performance by the College Sports Communicators (CSC, known before the 2022–23 school year as College Sports Information Directors of America, or CoSIDA). Currently, an Academic All-District team of honorees based on CSC member nominations and voting in each of eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.[1] The districts are as follows: – District 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT), District 2 (DC, DE, KY, MD, NJ, PA, WV), District 3 (NC, TN, VA), District 4 (AL, FL, GA, PR, SC), District 5 (IL, IN, MI, OH), District 6 (AR, IA, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, SD, WI, WY), – District 7 (CO, ID, KS, NE, NM, NV, OK, TX), District 8 (AK, AZ, CA, HI, OR, UT, WA, Canada).[2] First team All-District honorees make the All-America team ballots. From 1996 to 2010, this team selection process was held separately for the College and University Division. The University Division team included eligible participants from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I member schools, while the College Division team included scholar-athletes from all of the following: NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Canadian universities and colleges and two-year schools. From each team one winner each was chosen from both the College and University Divisions for all twelve Academic All-America teams including football to be the team member of the year. Thus, all twelve Academic All-American teams (Men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track & field/cross country, men's baseball, women's softball, men's football, women's volleyball and men's and women's at-large teams) had one Academic All-American of the Year each of its divisions. One of these twelve sport-by-sport Academic All-Americans of the year is selected as the Academic All-America Team Members of the Year for each division.[3] The most recent men's soccer player to win the all-sports honor is Stephen Lunney of the University of Tennessee Southern (then Martin Methodist College), who received the College Division awards for the 2013–14 academic year.[4]
| Awarded for | the yearly outstanding men's college soccer Academic All-America team member |
|---|---|
| Country | United States and Canada |
| Presented by | College Sports Communicators |
| History | |
| Most recent | Dylan Sing, Western Michigan Matteo Napoletano, Kentucky Wesleyan Logan Falzarano, Johns Hopkins Guido Cacciabue, St. Thomas (FL) |
| Next ceremony | December 10, 2024 |
| Website | Official site |
In 2011, the Academic All-America program was expanded from two to four divisions. NCAA Divisions II and III were separated into their own divisions, while the College Division was then restricted to non-NCAA institutions.[5] Most recently, effective with the 2018–19 school year, the College Division was split, with NAIA members now receiving their own set of awards, while in some sports Two-Year College, Canadian Institutions and any other institution not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA also get a set of rewards under the College Division.[1] However, Football has incorporated Canada into the districts for the other 4 sets.[2]
As of January 31, 2024[update], University of New Mexico (23) has had the most men's soccer Academic All-America honorees, just ahead of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University with 22 each.[6] New Mexico athletes have twice been recognized with this award. Carnegie Mellon has won it three times, while MIT has yet to win the award.[7]
On August 7, 2012, Division III honoree Drew Golz of Wheaton College became the first men's soccer player to be named Division III Academic All-America Team Member of the Year. That same year Golz had been named Baseball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, becoming the first male student-athlete to be named Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for two different sports in the same year.[8] The only other previous two-sport Academic All-America of the Year award-winner had been Cynthia Capp of West Virginia Wesleyan who had been recognized in volleyball (1990) and softball (1991).[9] On July 28, 2014, Stephen Lunney became the most recent men's soccer player to be named overall Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.[10]
Jonathan Hall of Carnegie Mellon University became the first repeat winner of this award in 2008 and 2009 in the College Division before it was split.[11][12] In the University/Division I Division, Kyle Hiebert of Missouri State Bears men's soccer repeated in 2016 and 2017.[13][14] For Division II, Eivind Austboe of Lake Forest College repeated in 2013 and 2014.[15][16] For NAIA/College Division, three different winners have repeated in back-to-back years and there was one non-consecutive repeat winner. Liam Barrett repeated in 2011 and 2013 for the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks.[17][18] Stephen Lunney repeated in 2013 and 2014 for the UT Southern FireHawks.[15][19] Aleksi Pahkasalo repeated in 2015 and 2016 for the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders.[20][21] Additionally, Kevin de Lange won twice but not consecutively during the COVID pandemic for the Shawnee State Bears.[22][23]
| † | Indicates winners of the all-sports Academic All-America award. |
All winners are American unless indicated otherwise.
Two-division era (2001–2010)
| Year | University Division Winner | School | College Division Winner | School | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Luchi Gonzalez[24] | SMU | Matt Ellis[24] | Ohio Northern | ||
| 2002 | Matt Osborne[25] | George Washington | Michael Lochner[25] | Otterbein | ||
| 2003 | Chris Wingert[26] | St. John's |  Phillip Riley[26] |
Lee | ||
| 2004 | Matt Groenwald[27] | St. John's' | Patrick McGinnis[27] | Colorado | ||
| 2005 | Jason Garey[28] | Maryland | Nathan Micklos[28] | Rochester | ||
| 2006 | Matt Wideman[29] | SMU | Josh Warren[29] | Ohio Wesleyan | ||
| 2007 |  Anton Axelsson[30] | Jacksonville | Jamison Dague[30] | Ohio Wesleyan | ||
| 2008 | Zack Simmons[11] | UMass | Jonathan Hall[11] | Carnegie Mellon | ||
| 2009 | Simon Ejdemyr[12] |
New Mexico | Jonathan Hall[12] | Carnegie Mellon | ||
| 2010 | Kofi Sarkodie[31] | Akron | Zach Carr[31] | Stevens | ||
Four-division era (2011–present)
- Notes
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