STANFORD, Calif. – Foster Langsdorf and Tomas Hilliard-Arce were named Senior CLASS Award All-Americans on Friday morning.
Langsdorf was named to the five-person first team and Hilliard-Arce the five-person second team. Stanford is the only institution with more than one Senior CLASS All-American this season.
It's the third consecutive year Stanford has had someone recognized for the award and first time the program has had multiple players honored. Brandon Vincent (2015) and Brian Nana-Sinkam (2016) were Senior CLASS Award second team All-Americans each of the past two Decembers.
The award for men's soccer is chosen by a vote of Division I men's soccer coaches, national soccer media and fans and is given annually to outstanding senior student-athletes in Division I men's soccer. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: classroom, community, character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete in 10 NCAA sports and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Hilliard-Arce and Langsdorf have led the Cardinal to its third straight College Cup where it will face Akron at Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pa. this evening in a national semifinal at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Since their freshman seasons, Stanford has won a pair of national championships, four Pac-12 titles and is the country's winningest program, sporting an overall record of 63-10-13 (.808).
Langsdorf is the first Senior CLASS Award first team All-American in Stanford history. Also a United Soccer Coaches first team All-American, in November he became the first two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year in conference history. The league's career scoring leader with 36 goals, he is 11th nationally with 13 this season, ninth in the country in total points (32) and sixth in game-winning goals (5). Langsdorf was fifth nationally with 15 goals a year ago and is the first Cardinal with back-to-back, double-digit goal campaigns since 1990 and 1991. Sixth in school history in career goals and alone in seventh with 84 career points, his career goal total is the most for a Stanford player in 34 years. Langsdorf has 17 career game-winning goals, including 13 the past two seasons to go along with 12 career assists.
Langsdorf is a management, science and engineering major, sports a 3.24 GPA and is a three-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.
Hilliard-Arce continues a now three-year run of a Stanford defender earning Senior CLASS Award All-America honors. A two-time United Soccer Coaches first team All-American and two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, he has led a Cardinal defense that has posted 45 shutouts among his 85 career appearances at center back. Stanford has a 0.61 team goals against average since 2014, finished in the top 10 nationally that category the past two years and is currently second this season (0.42). The Cardinal is in the midst of an NCAA-record run of 10 consecutive postseason shutouts spanning 1,022:17 of match time. A force on set pieces, Hilliard-Arce also has 13 career goals and five assists, including four goals and three assists this season.
A science, technology and society major with a 3.18 GPA , Hilliard-Arce is a team co-captain this season, a three-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.
