Samuels Named Capital One Academic All-American
11/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
MACON, Ga. – Mercer senior defender Ashani Samuels has been named to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-America Second Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Samuels is the seventh Mercer student-athlete to garner Academic All-American honors in school history and just the second men's soccer player to do so. A total of seven Mercer Bears have earned nine Academic All-American honors since 2005.
"Ashani is an outstanding student-athlete and is very deserving of this incredible honor," said Head Coach Brad Ruzzo. "He embodies all the characteristics that we want for a student-athlete in our program. Four years ago, Ashani bought into a vision and plan for this program and he has helped accomplish a Regular Season Championship in the Southern Conference in our first year along with achieving so many individual accomplishments throughout his career."
The West Moreland, Jamaica native is the only Southern Conference student-athlete to be named to any of the prestigious three teams announced on Tuesday.
Samuels was also named to the Capital One Academic All-District IV first team and the Atlantic Sun All-Academic team in 2012. He was also a 2011 Atlantic Sun All-Academic selection and a 2013 NSCAA Scholar All-South Region Honorable Mention.
Samuels is majoring in electrical engineering and holds well over the 3.30 GPA required to be named a Capital One Academic All-American.
Samuels finished his career with 76 games played and 73 starts. He also helped lead the Bears to a 14-7 record this season, as well as Mercer's first Southern Conference regular season championship since joining the conference earlier this year. Mercer's 14 wins set a program record for most wins in a single season.
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