Men's Soccer | 10/27/2016 3:00:00 PM

GREENWOOD, Ind. – Georgia Southern men's soccer student-athletes Adam Abdellaoui and Emil Laursen have earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 4 First-Team honors it was released by the organization Thursday morning. Abdellaoui and Laursen were the only Sun Belt Conference student-athletes to be recognized on the men's side.

CoSIDA began the distinguished Academic All-America program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America scholar-athlete honors. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed one full year at his current institution and hold above a 3.20 grade point average (GPA). Members of CoSIDA then voted on the nominations with first-team honorees advancing to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot.

Abdellaoui, a junior computer science major from Alpharetta, Ga., currently boasts a 3.47 GPA. He has played in all 16 games for the Eagles, earning 11 starts, and is tied for third on the team with two goals. He is currently second on the squad with seven points and he is tied for tops on the team with three assists. On the year, Abdellaoui has taken 36 shots, second on the team, and has put 10 of those shots on frame. He has converted his one penalty kick attempt.

Laursen currently holds a 4.00 GPA as a sophomore economics major. A defender from Silkeborg, Denmark, he has made 12 starts on the back row for Georgia Southern, playing every minute of nine games so far this season, including four overtime contests and helped the Eagles record a shutout against Coastal Carolina.  He is 1-2 on penalty kicks, and has three game-winning goals on the year. His three game-winners leads the team, is tied for tops in the Sun Belt and has him tied for 27^th in all of NCAA Division I.

The Academic All-District™ teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.  This is the sixth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America® Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

For more information about the Academic All-District™ and Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.

The Eagles will remain on the road for the final road game of the regular-season this Saturday, Oct. 29. GS will travel to Washington, D.C. on Saturday to take on Howard in a Sun Belt Conference match. The Eagles and Bison will kick off at 7 p.m.

NCAA DIVISION I DISTRICT 4 (AL, FL, GA, PR, SC)
FIRST TEAM
Pos. - Name, School (Yr., Hometown, GPA, Major)
GK - William Pyle, South Carolina (Jr., Charlotte, N.C., 3.33, Public health)
D - Ive Burnett, South Carolina (Sr., Brandon, Miss., 3.58, Public health)
D - Emil Laursen, Georgia Southern (So., Silkeborg, Denmark, 4.00, Economics)
D  - Dylan Rowe, Furman (Jr., New Braunfels, Texas, 3.74, Physics)
D - Gabe Tucker, Mercer (So., Virginia Beach, Va., 3.73, Law & public policy)
M - Danny Deakin, outh Carolina (Sr., Sheffield, England, 3.93, Criminal justice)
M - Henrique Sposito, UAB (Sr., Colegio, Brazil , 3.82, Sociology)
M - Kurtis Turner, South Carolina (Sr., Sheffield, England, 3.81, Criminal justice)
F - Adam Abdellaoui, Georgia Southern (Jr., Alpharetta, Ga., 3.47, Pre-computer science)
F - Jason Fitzgerald, Florida Atlantic (Sr., Parkland, Fla., 3.58, Management / finance)
F - Milan Kovacs, North Florida (Sr., Bonyhad, Hungary, 3.71, Transportation & logistics)


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