NAIA recognizes 13 more Maple Leafs as Scholar-Athletes

by | Nov 30, 2018 | Headlines, RRSN News | 0 comments

Second wave of fall announcement sweeps up soccer, women’s voll

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thirteen Goshen College student-athletes were named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes on Thursday as the NAIA released the list of national award winners in men’s soccer, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.

The Maple Leaf men’s soccer program had five members recognized, three of whom were repeat recipients. The men’s soccer and women’s cross country teams have Goshen’s department high for the 2018-19 academic year with five scholar-athletes apiece.

GC’s women’s soccer team boasts four scholar-athletes, doubling last year’s total, while the women’s volleyball team has four winners as well. One women’s soccer player and three women’s volleyball players also won the award in the fall 2017 season.

To qualify for the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, have achieved junior academic status, and be nominated by their institution’s head coach or sports information director. Transfer students must have completed at least two semesters at their current school.

The NAIA recognized 532 scholar-athletes in men’s soccer, 732 in women’s soccer and 597 in women’s volleyball.

Men’s soccer

Spencer Aeschliman (Salem, Ore.)

Ari Benjamin (Castara, Trinidad and Tobago)

Josh Garcia (Gurnee, Ill.)

Nate Nussbaum (Mishawaka, Ind.)

Ollie Smith (York, England)

Women’s soccer

Mara Beck (Woodstock, Vt.)

Taliah Borom (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Carolina Villalobos Palacios (Cartago, Costa Rica)

Makena Zimmerman (Lititz, Pa.)

Women’s volleyball

Sydney Cruz (South Bend, Ind.)

Meghan Manley (Monroe, Ind.)

Ally Roehr (Allendale, Mich.)

MacKinnon Tracy (New Carlisle, Ind.)

Eight Maple Leafs were named scholar-athletes in men’s and women’s cross country on November 15, so today’s announcement brings Goshen’s total for the year to 21. Award recipients in Goshen’s other 9 sports will be announced in conjunction with those sports’ national championships, continuing with men’s and women’s basketball on March 11. (While the Crossroads League plays its tennis season in the fall, the NAIA considers tennis a spring sport.)

Postseason awards continue with the announcement of Academic All-America teams in men’s and women’s soccer on Monday; NAIA All-Americans in men’s and women’s soccer as well as women’s volleyball are slated for release next Tuesday.

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