STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford seniors Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Foster Langsdorf and Drew Skundrich have been selected as candidates for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award®. Thirty NCAA men's soccer student-athletes were chosen and the Cardinal's three honorees lead the nation.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup® championships in December.
Stanford has done well recently as far as the Senior CLASS Award is concerned. Brandon Vincent and Brian Nana-Sinkam have earned Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-America status the past two years.
Hilliard-Arce, Langsdorf and Skundrich are three seniors who have been integral part in the most successful period in Stanford men's soccer history. Since their arrival on campus in 2014, the Cardinal is the winningest program in the country by percentage with an overall record of 52-9-11 (.799) and has won back-to-back national championships and three consecutive Pac-12 titles.
A science, technology and society major with a 3.18 GPA , Hilliard-Arce is a team co-captain this season, a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection and fluent in Spanish. Back home in North Carolina, he volunteers with Camp SOAR, organizing and playing sports with special-needs athletes. He has also worked Stanford soccer camps for four years to help promote the game in the Bay Area and is part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) on campus.
The senior has started at center back in each of his 71 career matches, has scored 10 times and has two assists. The MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist from 2016 and a projected top-pick in the upcoming MLS SuperDraft is on a number of watch lists this season, including the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list, the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI First Team, the College Soccer News Preseason All-America First Team and the All-Pac-12 preseason team. He was a first team All-American as a junior, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and named to the College Cup All-Tournament team.
Langsdorf is a management, science and engineering major, sports a 3.24 GPA and is also a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention selection. On campus he is a Partners for Academic Excellence (PAE) mentor at Stanford, assisting student-athletes in managing their demanding schedules and also to helping prepare them for future employment opportunities through professional development. Mentors facilitate weekly small group meetings with a wide-ranging curriculum.
The reigning Co-Pac-12 Player of the Year and a second team All-American in 2016, Langsdorf's career-high 15 goals as a junior tied for eighth in program history, were the most for a Cardinal since 1981 and the highest total in the conference since 2011. He ended his campaign fourth nationally in total goals, 10th in goals per game (0.65) and led the country in game-winning goals (8).
With 29 career scores, Langsdorf is tied for ninth in program history, tied for 11th among active NCAA players and needs one more to become the first Cardinal to reach the 30-goal mark since the mid-1980's. He's on this year's MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List along with the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI second team, the College Soccer News Preseason All-Amerca first team and the All-Pac-12 Preseason Team.
A human biology major, Skundrich owns a 3.29 GPA and is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-District pick in 2015 and last season was named NSCAA Scholar All-West Region.
A two-time team co-captain, he volunteers in the rehab center at the Veterans Hospital in Palo Alto, shadowing physical therapists and helping U.S. military veterans throughout their rehab process following traumatic brain injuries or amputations. He also volunteers in the physical therapy clinic at Stanford, observing and helping Cardinal student-athletes recover from their injuries.
In the future, Skundrich has the goal of creating an after-school club to allow children to be active in a safe environment after researching childhood obesity rates in the United States and working to develop such a program in one of his human biology classes at Stanford.
A versatile player, Skundrich was second on the team goals (4) and third in points (11) in 2016 and has six career goals and 10 career assists. After starting all 23 games at right back during Stanford's 2015 championship run, Skundrich moved to the central midfield and again started all 23 matches in the most recent title campaign. He was selected to both the NSCAA All-Far West Region second team and the All-Pac-12 second team as a junior and is on the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI third team and All-Pac-12 preseason team this year.