GREENSBORO, N.C. – Recent UNC Greensboro men's soccer graduate Marco Milanese was named to the Scholar All-American second team,
as announced by the United Soccer Coaches.
Milanese is the lone representative of the Southern Conference to earn the honor. He is the third Scholar All-American in UNCG history and second second-team selection. Leeroy Maguraushe was named to the second team in 2018 and Scott Jones who was voted to the first team in 2006.
The Isernia, Italy, native posrted a 3.97 cumulative grade-point average and held a 4.0 GPA this semester while studying finance.
In order to be eligible for United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region and All-America teams, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.40 cumulative GPA, play in a minimum of 75 percent of a team's contests and be an elite player as supported by playing honors (All-America, All-Region, minimum all-conference). A student-athlete must also be at least a junior athletically.
Most recently, Milanese was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-South Region second team. He was one of two Spartans to earn College Sports Communicators Academic All-America second-team recognition, as well as one of four Spartans named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
This year he was voted to the All-SoCon first team as a defender and played in 21 games, starting in 20 of them and totaling 1,848 minutes to lead the team. The 2022 captain scored one goal and had two assists for four points this season.
A key piece of the Spartans' defense, Milanese won SoCon Defensive Player of the Week once this season. He assisted UNCG to allowing just 19 goals this season in 21 games for a 0.89 goals against average. The Spartans also totaled six shutouts this season.
UNCG earned its ninth SoCon regular-season title with a 4-0-1 conference mark and then won its fifth SoCon tournament title. The undefeated SoCon record was UNCG’s first since 2004, when the Spartans went 6-0-1. UNCG claimed its fourth double crown in program history. The last time the Spartans won the double was 2006. The Spartans also won it in 2005 and 1998.
The tournament title clinched the Spartans’ 12th NCAA Division I tournament bid. It was their 21st time in an NCAA tournament, including seven appearances in Division III and two at the Division II level.
After hosting Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA tournament and tying 1-1 and advancing on penalty kicks 6-5, the Spartans faced No. 5 Stanford in California, also tying 1-1 and advancing on penalty kicks, 3-1. UNCG, in its first NCAA Division I quarterfinals appearance, fell to No. 13 seed Indiana in Greensboro by a score of 2-0.
UNCG concluded the season with a 13-2-6 overall mark.