Men’s soccer receives USC Team Academic award for fifth-straight season

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The University of Evansville men’s soccer team received the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the fifth-straight season, it was announced Monday.

The award, which was initiated in the 1996, honors collegiate and high school men’s and women’s soccer teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.00 cumulative team grade-point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale.

United Soccer Coaches recognized 825 teams, 286 men and 539 women on Thursday. Evansville was one of 195 schools to have both their men’s and women’s programs honored this year. This year marks the fifth-straight year and ninth overall that both men’s and women’s soccer teams have earned the team academic honor.

“It’s part of what our institution is all about,” said Aces head coach Marshall Ray. “We want to recruit student-athletes who want to compete academically and want to compete athletically on the field and we give them the opportunity. We are a small, private liberal-arts institution that puts a huge value on the education component, but also gives students the opportunity to compete against the best teams in the country. We are very proud of the guys and hopefully we can continue to compete on the field and compete off the field.”

UE is joined on the list by fellow Missouri Valley Conference members Bradley, Central Arkansas, Loyola, Missouri State, and Valparaiso. UE’s 3.30 team GPA was second best among MVC teams.

Evansville returns home for a non-conference matchup with Belmont on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Arad McCutchan Stadium.