CL Soccer Teams Claim 14 Academic All-District Honors

AVON, Ohio – The Crossroads League was well represented on the 2017 CoSIDA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Academic All-District Teams, with a combined 14 student-athletes receiving recognition from Taylor, Mount Vernon Nazarene, Spring Arbor, Saint Francis and Goshen.

In all, the Crossroads League claimed eight-of-25 available awards from Districts I and II on the women’s side, and six-of-24 honors on the men’s side. Those two districts include all NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions from a 27-state area, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Taylor did the heavy lifting with seven of the CL’s 14 honors, followed by three from MVNU, two from SAU and one each from USF and Goshen.

The Taylor women’s soccer team picked up four-of-12 awards from District II, with Lauren Engelkes, Megan Kammer, Nikki Zaino and Bailey Zehr making the list, in addition to USF’s Alexa Siegel. Spring Arbor placed Bethany Balcer and Sarah Klunder on the list form District I, along with MVNU’s Regina Rudder.

The TU men also secured the most honors from District II, with Drew Sezenov, Paul Egenolf and Gabe Saliba making the cut, in addition to Goshen’s Spencer Aeschliman. MVNU picked up a pair of District I accolades, with Brandon Mount and Connor Davis making the list.

All 14 student-athletes will advance to the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, which are schedule to be announced on December 4.

The CoSIDA Academic All-District and All-American awards are designed to recognize outstanding achievements in the classroom, as well as on the court or field of play. In order to be eligible for the honor, an athlete must be nominated by their institutions Sports Information Director, must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher on a 4.0 scale, must have reached sophomore status academically and must have participated in over half of the team’s competitions as a key contributor during the current season.