CARY, N.C. – Tanner Beason and Andrew Thomas were named United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I All-Americans on Thursday night. It's the sixth consecutive season Stanford has had multiple players honored.
Beason, a redshirt senior center back, earned a spot on the first team and Thomas, a redshirt sophomore goalkeeper, the third team. With their selections, the Cardinal has accumulated 13 All-America honors since 2014.
Also on the first team a year ago, Beason joins Jordan Morris (2014, 2015), Brandon Vincent (2014, 2015) and Tomas Hilliard-Arce (2016, 2017) as the only Cardinal to be named first team All-Americans more than once.
After starting the first 76 matches of his career, Beason missed his first game at Stanford on Oct. 6 against Oregon State following a second-half injury sustained against Washington three days prior. He missed the next eight games before returning to the starting lineup in the regular-season finale against Cal. He became the first person on conference history to sweep both Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2018.
One of 15 MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalists, Beason is third on the team in goals (5) and fifth in points (11) in just 13 matches played this year.
Stanford has posted a 0.54 goals against average since his redshirt freshman season in 2016, has finished in the top eight nationally that category the past three years and is currently fifth this season (0.629). The Cardinal has also posted 47 shutouts in Beason's 80 appearances (58.8 percent). A force on set pieces and penalty kicks, he has 20 career goals and 11 assists.
Last Thursday, Thomas was named to the Academic All-America® Division I second team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He will be the only academic All-American on the field in Cary this weekend.
Thomas is 11th in the country in goals against average (0.664) and 16th in solo shutouts (8). In two years as a starter, he has already put together 19 clean sheets, good for fourth in school history. His 0.839 career save percentage leads all active players and his 0.644 career goals against average is second.
An engineering physics major with a 3.98 GPA, Thomas made two saves in Friday night's penalty shootout at Clemson, which Stanford won 5-4 to advance to its seventh College Cup. Stanford advanced past Seattle U at home in the second round on penalties, 2-1, when Thomas stopped four RedHawk attempts. Of 11 postseason penalty kicks for Cardinal opponents, each one has been on frame and Thomas has saved six.
The duo has led the Cardinal to its fourth College Cup appearance in five seasons. Stanford will face Georgetown at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on Friday in the first national semifinal at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
