Salisbury men's soccer earns NSCAA Team Academic Award

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) released its 2008-2009 Team Academic Awards and the Salisbury University men's soccer team was honored. Salisbury is one of 571 teams nationwide that met an overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher for the academic year.

This is the second straight and fourth overall year the Sea Gulls have won the NSCAA College Men's Team Academic Award since the award was instituted in 1996. The first award in SU program history was in 2002 followed by a repeat performance in '03.

The Sea Gulls posted a team GPA of 3.23 and are one of 141 men's programs from all divisions (I, II, III) to earn this honor. The highest GPA earned was 3.47 by Amherst College and Mount Union College. Salisbury was just one of three programs from the state of Maryland to receive the honor, as both Johns Hopkins University and Loyola University of Maryland each garnered the award. The Sea Gulls were the only men's team from the Capital Athletic Conference to win the award; the St. Mary's (Md.) College women's soccer team also received the accolade.

Of the 571 teams honored, 330 are women's teams and 98 programs were represented on both the men's and women's teams.

SU went 15-3-2 in 2009 and went to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season. The 29-member squad consisted of eight seniors, seven juniors, three sophomores and 11 freshman.