Buurman and Vercelli are Academic All-Americans
For the first time in program history, Carson-Newman men’s soccer had two athletes recognized on the 2022 Academic All-America men’s soccer teams as voted on by the College Sports Communicators and announced earlier today.
2022 Academic All-America Release
AUSTIN, Texas. – For the first time in program history, Carson-Newman men's soccer had two athletes recognized on the 2022 Academic All-America men's soccer teams as voted on by the College Sports Communicators and announced earlier today.
This marks the third consecutive season that Carson-Newman men's soccer has placed at least one individual on an Academic All-American team.
Tim Vercelli earned first team-honors for the Eagles. He becomes the second men's soccer player to be named to the Academic All-American first team. Thaylan Silva earned first team honors in 2021. Vercelli's honor is the first academic honor of his career. Vercelli maintained a 4.0 GPA majoring in Business. He is one of five first team selections to sport a perfect grade point average.
The Münster, Germany native, made 13 appearances, with 11 starts. He tied for the team lead with four goals scored, while adding two assists. He scored a goal in three consecutive games from Sept 24 to Sept 30. Nine of his 15 shots were on target.
Niels Buurman was named to the Academic All-American second team. The honor is also Buurman's first of his C-N career. The senior was one of two Eagles to play in all 17 games. He made 12 starts, including the final five games of the season. He scored two goals and added three assists for seven total points. He scored the equalizer to help C-N tie Lee on Sept 3. Buurman assisted on C-N's go-ahead goal against #14 Mars Hill on Sept 28. His other two assists came in back-to-back games against Lincoln Memorial (Oct 12) and Catawba (Oct 15). The senior sported a 4.0 GPA majoring in Business. Buurman was one of five individuals on the second team to sport a perfect grade point average.
Carson-Newman was the only South Atlantic Conference school to have a player recognized on the Academic All-American teams. The Eagles were one of just three schools to have a player selected to both the first and second teams.
The four Academic All-America® teams, totaling 124 players, have a 3.88 average grade-point average with 36 members posting a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2022-23 Division II Academic All-America® program.
Eagle fans can stay up to date with the men's soccer team and the rest of Carson-Newman athletics at cneagles.com.
