West Texas A&M’s Alexander Vencel was named the Lone Star Conference Academic Player of the Year for a second consecutive year as the conference announced the men’s soccer academic awards on Thursday.
Vencel headlined eleven men’s soccer standouts awarded for their work in the classroom and on the pitch. The All-Academic team is chosen by the league’s sports information directors, who select players on the basis of both athletic and academic achievement. To be eligible for LSC academic honors, student-athletes must have played in at least 50 percent of team’s contests, reached sophomore athletic and academic standing, completed at least one full academic year at the nominating institution and have a minimum 3.30 cumulative grade point average based on the 4.0 system for their entire collegiate career.
The WT junior was joined on the team by DBU’s Payton Franklin, two-time Lubbock Christian honoree Tariq Bakkali, LCU’s Braxton Thorne and Niklas Neumann, Midwestern State’s Marc-Antoine Huzen, Oklahoma Christian duo Carlos Trapero and Michele Perina, St. Mary’s Deni Cresto, UT Permian Basin’s Ollie Grundy and UT Tyler’s Sergio Sola.
Vencel, a senior from Mittelhausbergen, France, claimed the top award with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average as a computer science major at WT. The Buffaloes starting goalkeeper has started all seven games between the pipes for the Spring 2021 LSC Men’s Soccer Champions allowing just four goals while leading the league in goals-against average at .574. The senior has saved 18 shots this season and picked up two clean sheets. Vencel is the first men’s soccer student-athlete to win back-to-back Academic Player of the Year honors since Midwestern State’s Tyler Murphy in 2007 and 2008.
| SPRING 2021 LSC MEN’S SOCCER ALL-ACADEMIC AWARDS |
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| Player |
School |
Year |
Pos. |
Major |
Hometown |
| Payton Franklin |
DBU |
So. |
Midfielder |
Biology |
Greenville, Texas |
| Braxton Thorne |
Lubbock Christian |
Jr. |
Goalkeeper |
Exercise Science |
Lubbock, Texas |
| Niklas Neumann |
Lubbock Christian |
Jr. |
Defender |
Economics |
Koeln, Germany |
| Tariq Bakkali |
Lubbock Christian |
Jr. |
Forward |
Finance |
London, England |
| Marc-Antoine Huzen |
Midwestern State |
Jr. |
Goalkeeper |
Marketing |
Montmorency, France |
| Carlos Trapero |
Oklahoma Christian |
Sr. |
Midfielder |
Management |
Madrid, Spain |
| Michele Perina |
Oklahoma Christian |
So. |
Midfielder |
Marketing/Management |
Villafranca di Verona, Italy |
| Deni Cresto |
St. Mary's |
Jr. |
Midfielder |
Exercise and Sports Science |
Curitiba, Parana, Brazil |
| Ollie Grundy |
UT Permian Basin |
Sr. |
Midfielder |
Business Management/Marketing |
Wigan, England |
| Sergio Sola |
UT Tyler |
So. |
Midfielder |
Biochemistry |
Aranda de Duero, Spain |
| Alexander Vencel |
West Texas A&M |
Sr. |
Goalkeeper |
Computer Science |
Mittelhausbergen, France |
| SPECIAL RECOGNITION |
| Academic Player of the Year: Alexander Vencel, West Texas A&M |