NSCAA Scholars

STANFORD, Calif. – Andrew Epstein and Drew Skundrich were honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) for their combined work in the classroom and on the field when the organization announced its Scholar All-America and All-West Region squads.
 
The duo took up two of the 13 spots on the NSCAA Division I Men's Scholar All-West Region team and Stanford was also the only Pac-12 school that had multiple student-athletes receive scholar all-region recognition.
 
On Thursday, Epstein was also named an NSCAA Scholar First Team All-American, the ninth NSCAA First Team Academic All-American in Stanford history and first since Bobby Warshaw in 2009.
 
Epstein made two consecutive penalty kick saves in the College Cup Final to lead the Cardinal to its second straight national championship as part of a headline grabbing redshirt junior campaign. The electrical engineering major did not allow a single goal throughout the entire NCAA tournament and Stanford became the third program to win a title while posting a 0.00 postseason goals against average.
 
Epstein lowered his career postseason goals against average to 0.34, an NCAA record, and Stanford extended its postseason shutout streak to seven games dating back to 2015, another NCAA record. Stanford's keeper was named the College Cup's Defensive Most Outstanding Player and finished his season seventh in the country in goals against average (0.571).
 
He was also voted an NSCAA Second Team All-American on Dec. 9 and in late November became the second Stanford player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I first team honors, joining Taylor Graham (2002).
 
A co-captain this season, Skundrich was second on the team goals (4) and third in points (11) in 2016. After starting all 23 games at right back during last year's championship run, Skundrich moved to the central midfield and again started all 23 matches in 2016's title campaign. The junior was selected to both the NSCAA All-Far West Region second team and the All-Pac-12 second team.

Stanford NSCAA Scholar All-Americans