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Everett Pitts Named Senior CLASS Award Candidate
September 18, 2012 | Men's Soccer
OVERLAND PARK, KS --- Sixty NCAA® men's and women's soccer student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were selected as candidates today for the 2012 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate 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 – community, classroom, character and competition.
UC Irvine will be represented for the second year in a row by senior defender Everett Pitts. Pitts joins keeper Andrew Fontein who was among the 30 candidates and the 10 finalists for the award in 2011. 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 platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 2012 candidate class includes 14 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Americans from last season. More than half of the 60 have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better. Seven of the candidates were recognized by the College Sports Information Directors of America as 2011 Capital One Academic All-Americans. Five student-athletes participated in the 2011 NCAA Men's or Women's College Cups®. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2012 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup championships. The Women's College Cup will take place November 30 and December 2 in San Diego, while the Men's College Cup will take place December 7 and 9 in Hoover, Ala.
Each of the 30 candidate classes 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 male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
Below is the full list of male candidates:
Men's Soccer Candidates
Carlos Alvarez, Connecticut
James Belshaw, Duke
Ashton Bennett, Coastal Carolina
Steven Birnbaum, California
Scott Caldwell, Akron
Machael David, UC Santa Barbara
Johnny Dreshaj, Oakland
Shawn Ferguson, Charleston
Peyton Ford, North Carolina-Greensboro
Scott Goodwin, North Carolina
Anthony Hobbs, Florida International
Ryan Hollingshead, UCLA
Deion Jones, Florida Gulf Coast
Taylor Kemp, Maryland
Ryan McDuff, Brown
Brian McGue, Davidson
Peter McKeown, Loyola (Illinois)
Luis Ocejo, Stetson
Cameron Omsberg, Lehigh
Jannis Opalka, Siena
Liam Paddock, UMBC
Everett Pitts, UC Irvine
Dillon Powers, Notre Dame
Eric Schoenle, West Virginia
Yannick Smith, Old Dominion
Donnie Smith, Charlotte
Blake Smith, New Mexico
Bobby Thalman, Yale
Grant Van De Casteele, Notre Dame
Kyle Zobeck, Valparaiso
Pitts and the rest of the 'Eaters are back on the pitch Friday as they play the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Oregon State Hensor/Zaher Nike Classic in Corvallis, Ore. UCI and Gonzaga play at 2:00 p.m. Friday before the Anteaters take on the host Beavers, Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
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