Men’s soccer player Ryan Thomas (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock) has been named to the District V Academic All-District Team, as voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). This is his first such award.
Thomas, an EMU team captain and who has been a starting center back since midway through his freshman season, holds a 3.70 GPA with a double major of accounting and economics. Along with helping the Royals to seven shutouts this fall, the senior also scored the first goal of his career in last Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Shenandoah. He had previously notched his first point with an assist against Randolph on Oct. 1.
Thomas has also been a regular on the ODAC All-Academic Team and the Royals All-Academic Team.
“Ryan has always been a great leader for our team,” said Coach Roger Mast. “He does a fantastic job of balancing his training and soccer responsibilities with the work he does in the classroom. Being a double major, he has always been a good student and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”
The criteria for the All-District program states that a player must be of sophomore academic standing, be a starter or important reserve and claim a GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale. Eastern Mennonite is a member of District 5, which includes players from NCAA D-III institutions in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Only 13 men’s soccer players were honored from District 5.
Click here to see the entire list of Academic All-District Men’s Soccer Teams.
Eastern Mennonite (9-7-4 / 4-3-2 ODAC) is riding a four-game winning streak heading into this week’s ODAC Tournament. As the No. 6 seed, the Royals play at No. 3 Roanoke Wednesday at 7:00pm. The semifinals and championship will be this Saturday and Sunday at the highest remaining seed.