SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Four
Southern Conference men’s soccer players were named to the CoSIDA Capital One
Academic All-District first teams, the organization announced Friday. Elon’s
Matt Wescoe, College of Charleston’s Shawn Ferguson and Wofford’s Alex Hutchins
and Billy Padula all took the distinction and will be on the national ballot
for CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-America honors.
Wescoe, a junior midfielder, was named to the Capital One Academic
All-District III first team as selected by the College of Sports Information
Directors of America (CoSIDA), based on his performance in 2012 both on the
pitch and in the classroom.
This was the first academic all-district honor for Wescoe,
who has a 3.53 cumulative grade point average in political science.
The Willow Springs, N.C., native has a team-high six assists
on the season and is second on the squad with five goals for the 23rd-ranked
Phoenix. He scored two game-winning goals this season, including a header in a
2-1 win at UNCG to help the Phoenix clinch a share of the Southern Conference
regular-season title.
Elon has now had a member of the program named to the
academic all-district team in each of the last four seasons. James Carroll earned
first-team and second-team accolades in 2011 and 2010, respectively. Steven
Kinney was also recognized in 2009.
Ferguson, a senior defender from Rock Hill, S.C., boasts a
3.69 GPA and is majoring in biology. Has started 10 of the 11 matches in which
he has appeared this season and has two points on one goal, which came against
his hometown team, Winthrop, on Sept. 19. Ferguson missed seven matches – the
first in his career – with a broken bone in his cheek earlier in the season.
Ferguson has been part of a Cougar defense that has posted
five shutouts on the season and allowed just 1.3 goals per game.
He was an All-SoCon selection a year ago.
Hutchins, a senior from Knoxville, Tenn., started in the
midfield in all 18 of Wofford’s game this season, and he led the team in
several statistical categories. His team-high 12 goals were Wofford’s highest
single-season output since 1994 and good for second-most in the Southern
Conference. His team-leading 26 points is also the highest season total since
1994 and second in the SoCon. In the Terriers’ Division I era, Hutchins holds
the record for most goals (12) and points (26) in a season.
In the classroom, the biology major has continued to excel,
posting a 3.48 GPA, and has now been named to the CoSIDA Captial One Academic
All-District IV team in each of the past two seasons.
An Irmo, S.C., native, Padula helped anchor the Terrier
defense, starting all 18 games this year. He recorded a team-high seven assists,
which was Wofford’s highest season total since 1996. It was also tied for
second place in the SoCon and second in Wofford’s Division I era. All seven of
his assists came off long throw-ins. With Padula at center back, the Terriers
recorded six shutouts this season, which was good for second place in the
conference.
Padula, a business economics and government major with a
3.86 GPA, has been named to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll each of the past two
seasons and was selected to the SoCon Fall Academic All-Conference Team last
year.
The Phoenix will return to the pitch as the No. 1 seed in
the 2012 SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship on Saturday, hosting No. 8 seed Davidson.
That match is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. at Rudd Field. No. 3 seed College
of Charleston hosts No. 6 seed Appalachian State at 2 p.m. and No. 7 seed
Wofford is at No. 2 seed Furman at 6 p.m.