Wednesday, December 4, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – Although the season has wrapped up for the conference’s men’s soccer teams, additional accolades continue to pour in as two GNAC players were selected to the 2019 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Team.

Seattle Pacific junior defender Travis Swallow was selected to the second team after receiving third-team honors last year. Swallow posted a 3.98 grade point average as a business administration major and was also selected to the GNAC All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year in 2019.

An Honorable Mention All-GNAC selection this season, Swallow started in all 17 games for Seattle Pacific, anchoring the Falcon defense and contributing two assists. The Falcons concluded their season with a 6-6-0 GNAC record to finish in third place in the conference standings.

A significant piece of the puzzle in Western Washington’s historic season, Vikings’ senior forward Ryan Schaefer landed on the third team with a 3.81 GPA as a management information systems major.

Schaefer led the Vikings and tied for second in the GNAC with nine goals while also ranking tied for fourth in the conference with 19 points. Schaefer’s five game-winning goals topped the conference and ranked 11th in Division II as he helped to lead the Vikings to a 13-5-1 overall record (10-1-1 GNAC) and their first GNAC title since 2008.

The Academic All-America teams are nominated and voted upon by members of CoSIDA and recognize student-athletes of sophomore standing or better who are starters or significant reserves for their teams with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 or better. The 33 student-athletes were selected from a pool of those who received first-team regional academic honors.