Nov. 25, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. –

South Carolina posted three on the Capital One Academic All-America teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Senior defender Braeden Troyer earned a spot on the men’s first team, while seniors Sabrina D’Angelo (first team) and Taylor Leach (third team) made the women’s listing.

Troyer played every minute of the 2014 season as the main center back for the Gamecocks, helping guide the team to a 10-10 record and into the finals of the Conference USA Tournament. As a second-team All-Conference USA selection, he had one assist on the season. The Columbia, South Carolina, product started all 75 matches of his collegiate career, only missing one match in four seasons. In his career, he tallied 10 goals, including three game-winners. His final two years, he moved from a center mid to a center back, fortifying the Gamecocks’ defense. A four-time All-Conference USA player, he earned second-team all-league honors on three occasions. He also has three CoSIDA Academic All-District 4 and three C-USA All-Academic Team nods in his four years as a Gamecock.

A mathematics major, Troyer earned C-USA Academic Medals three times thus far in his career, given to student-athletes with a 3.75 cumulative grade point average. He’s also earned three Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll mentions as well.

D’Angelo has a bevy of awards to her credit this season, including becoming a Senior CLASS Award finalist and first-team All-SEC for the third time in her career. Second in South Carolina history in goals-against average (0.76), shutouts (29) and saves (241), the Welland, Ontario, native twice earned SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors and made an all-conference team in all four seasons. She’s logged the most minutes of any Gamecock goalkeeper in women’s program history. This season, South Carolina holds the eighth-best GAA in NCAA Division I (0.51), while her average of 0.577 ranks 15th among netminders. She twice earned Capital One Academic All-District 4 honors, made the NSCAA Scholar All-America first team in 2013 and is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member.

Leach has combined with D’Angelo to anchor that SEC-leading defense of 0.51 goals against average. A first-team All-SEC player herself, Leach made the Senior CLASS Award candidate list in the preseason. The center back earned a spot on TopDrawerSoccer’s Team of the Week after the first weekend of play, as the Maumee, Ohio, redshirt senior scored both goals in the season-opening win over East Carolina. She’s logged the second-most minutes among field players this season and helped the Garnet and Black tally 13 shutouts on the season. She’s gained four SEC Academic Honor Roll certificates in her time in Columbia.

Troyer joins Greg King (1994-95) and Jimmy Maurer (2010) as Gamecock men’s soccer student-athletes who garnered first-team Academic All-America recognition in their career, and he’s the eighth Gamecock all-time to gain the honor. D’Angelo becomes the third South Carolina women’s soccer player to capture first-team Academic All-America status, joining Blakely Mattern (2008 & 2009) and Mollie Patton (2010). For the first time, South Carolina has two women make the teams in the same year.

To be eligible for the Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be a sophomore both academically and athletically and hold a 3.3 cumulative GPA. After the membership in a division votes for the all-district team, the national committee selects from the eight regions the Academic All-America teams.

D’Angelo and Leach were joined by five fellow SEC student-athletes Alabama’s Merel van Dongen (first team), Laura Lee Smith (second team), Texas A&M’s Shea Groom (first team), Kentucky’s Stuart Pope (third team) and Arkansas’s Ashleigh Ellenwood (third team) as on the teams. Joining Troyer on the Academic All-America squads from Conference USA are New Mexico’s Josh Dye (second team) and UAB’s Ian Michalak (third team).

West Virginia’s Andy Bevin (men) and Seattle’s Stephanie Verdoia (women) claimed the Capital One Academic All-America of the Year awards.

2014 Capital One Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Team – Division I
As selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America

First Team
GK Charlie Lyon, Sr., Marquette
D Jonathan Campbell, Jr., North Carolina
D Brandon Fricke, Sr., Butler
D Ryan Keener, Sr., Michigan State
D Braeden Troyer, Sr., South Carolina
M Sean Davis, Sr., Duke
M Patrick Hodan, Jr., Notre Dame
M Stephen Hudgens, Sr., Radford
F Andy Bevin, Sr., West Virginia*
F Hugh Danilack, Sr., Dartmouth
F Josh Schwartz, Sr., Massachusetts

Second Team
GK Joachim Ball, Sr., Louisville
D Kyle Mellies, Sr., UNLV
D Dusty Page, Sr., Northern Illinois
D Ashani Samuels, Sr., Mercer
D Quinn Starker, Sr., Tulsa
M Josh Dye, Jr., New Mexico
M Marvin Schmiege, Jr., USC Upstate
M Matt Ybarra, Sr., Detroit Mercy
F Pat Flynn, So., Bowling Green
F Brice Merwine, Sr., LIU Brooklyn
F Cameron Porter, Sr., Princeton

Third Team
GK Nicholas Thomson, Sr., Boston University
D Jack Elliott, So., West Virginia
D Ian Michalak, Sr., UAB
D Luke Mishu, Sr., Notre Dame
D Julian Ringhof, Sr., San Diego
D Jake Weinreb, Sr., American
M Laurie Bell, Sr., Wisconsin-Milwaukee
M Tyler Conway, Sr., Cornell
M Ben Sampson, Jr., Delaware
F Fabian Herbers, So., Creighton
F Dylan Kelly, Jr., Incarnate Word
F Jesse Klug, Jr., Bucknell

2014 Capital One Academic All-America Women’s Soccer Team – Division I
As selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America

First Team
GK Sabrina D’Angelo, Sr., South Carolina
D Nikki Boretti, Jr., UMBC
D Ally Courtnall, Sr., UCLA
D Jaelene Hinkle, Sr., Texas Tech
D Rachel Pitman, Sr., DePaul
M Shea Groom, Sr., Texas A&M
M Samantha Mewis, Sr., UCLA
M Merel van Dongen, Sr., Alabama
F Kelsey Haycook, Sr., La Salle
F Diana Potterveld, Jr., South Dakota State
F Stephanie Verdoia, Sr., Seattle*

Second Team
GK Morgan Glick, Sr., Stephen F. Austin
D Alison Alcott, Sr., Belmont
D Carly Black, Jr., West Virginia
D Kaily Cox, Jr., Oral Roberts
D Emily Dzik, Sr., Eastern Michigan
M Tara Ballay, Jr., Rider
M Danielle Colaprico, Sr., Virginia
M Katelyn Reeve, Sr., Clemson
F Jade Flory, Sr., Morehead State
F Laura Lee Smith, Sr., Alabama
F Taylor Uhl, Sr., Stanford

Third Team
GK Megan Kufeld, Jr., Washington
D Emma Donnelly, Jr., Hartford
D Mackenzie Dowd, So., Northeastern
D Taylor Leach, Sr., South Carolina
D Kelsey McDonald, Sr., Longwood
M Stuart Pope, Sr., Kentucky
M Aislinn McIlveny, Sr., Manhattan
M Katie Yensen, Sr., Virginia Tech
F Ashleigh Ellenwood, Jr., Arkansas
F Rachel Tejada, Sr., Illinois State
F Elise Wyatt, Jr., DePaul