STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford junior goalkeeper Andrew Epstein and redshirt senior midfielder Eric Verso were named to the 2015 Academic All-America® Division I third team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) it was announced Tuesday.
The two are the fifth and sixth CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in Stanford history and the first since 2010, when Bobby Warshaw and Dominique Yahyavi both landed on the second team.
Epstein, who owns a 3.74 GPA and majors in electrical engineering, is also one of the nation's best keepers. The junior is the backbone of a defense that is 10th in the nation in goals against average (0.64) and has posted nine shutouts. Individually, Epstein's goals against average of 0.647 is 11th in the country and his seven solo clean sheets are tied for ninth in Cardinal Stanford single-season history with Craig Ueland (1977) and Willie Burkhardt (1983). His career 0.76 goals against average would rank second in the Cardinal record books and his mark in 2015 is among six best single-season efforts at Stanford.
Verso, a 3.50 student studying management science and engineering, has been a revelation in the assist department during his senior campaign. He is fifth nationally in total assists (11), third in assists per game (0.61) is one of just 16 players in the country with 10 or more. Verso is the ninth Stanford player since 1980 to reach that number, the fourth since 1985 and the first since 2002. No Cardinal had reached double digits in assists since Roger Levesque (13) and Todd Dunivant (11) in 2002.
The Pac-12 champion Cardinal has racked up numerous academic accolades in addition to its Pac-12 player (Jordan Morris), defensive player (Brandon Vincent) and coach of the year (Jeremy Gunn) awards. Stanford tied a school record with 14 Pac-12 all-academic honorees – its fourth straight year in double figures – and had four CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 selection in Epstein, Verso, Drew Skundrich and Ty Thompson.
Vincent was named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year on November 12 and is also one of 10 men's finalists for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate soccer. That award is given to a NCAA Division I senior student-athlete who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Stanford (15-2-2) hosts Ohio State (13-6-3) in the third round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament on Sunday, November 29 at 5 p.m. Tickets are now on sale by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or calling 800-STANFORD. Reserved seats are $15. For bleachers, prices are $10 for adults and $8 for students, youths and seniors.