Bucknell University Athletics
Three Bison Men's Soccer Student-Athletes Named to Capital One Academic All-District Team
11/4/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 4, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell student-athletes occupied three of the 11 spots on the Capital One Academic All-District 2 Men's Soccer Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced on Friday. Seniors Tommy Caso (Phoenix, Md./McDonogh) and Ryan Sappington (Babroursville, Va./Shattuck-St. Mary's) along with junior Brendan Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J./Pingry School) were all honored, and all three will now advance to the national Academic All-America ballot.
This is Caso's third straight appearance on the All-District Team, and he joins Jonathan Hemmert (2002-04) as Bucknell's only three-time honorees. The team's starting goalkeeper throughout most of his four-year career, Caso is tied for third on the program's all-time list with 19 career shutouts. This season, Caso has a 7-5-1 record with five clean sheets and a solid 1.09 goals-against average.
An NSCAA Academic All-East honoree last season, Caso is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.82 cumulative grade-point average and a near-perfect 3.95 GPA within his major. He is a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, and he serves as one of the men's soccer representatives on the Bucknell Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Caso has spent each of the last three summers doing engineering internships in Maryland, with the latest being en engineering and supply chain projects internship with the McCormick Corporation.
Last season, Sappington was named to the inaugural Patriot League All-Academic Team as well as the NSCAA Scholar All-East Team, but this is his first time on the Capital One Academic All-District Team. Sappington was a key starter on Bucknell's 2009 and 2010 Patriot League championship teams, and he was starting once again this season until being hobbled by a late-season injury. One of the team's most versatile players, Sappington has played fullback, outside midfield and defensive midfield during his Bucknell career. He has three career goals, including a game-winner this year against Saint Francis (Pa.).
Sappington has been just as impressive in the classroom and in the community. He is a philosophy and psychology double-major with a 3.87 cumulative GPA. A Dean's List member every semester so far, Sappington is a member of Psi Chi international honor society for psychology. He was selected for the Bucknell University Student Leadership Institute, and he has worked on two independent research projects in the Department of Psychology, the latest studying the effects of competition on academic integrity. Sappington is a SAAC member, and he serves on the Communications/Presentations team for Bicycles Against Poverty, a student-run organization that raises awareness and funds to purchase bicycles for internationally displaced persons in Gulu, Uganda and other villages. He is also a member of the Bucknell University Gender Issues Equity Committee, where he has worked with the Department of Athletics in drafting its latest gender equity report.
Burgdorf is the reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, and prior to the 2011 season he was named Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year and earned a spot on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. He enters this weekend's season finale tied for the Patriot League lead in assists with six, and he also has a pair of goals, coming against nationally ranked Indiana and Notre Dame. In three seasons, Burgdorf now has 17 goals and 10 assists for 44 career points. A physics major with a 3.41 GPA, Burgdorf is perhaps best known for his stellar postseason in 2009, when he scored the goal in a 1-0 win over American in the Patriot League championship match, and then he scored in a 1-0 victory over Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In order to be eligible for Academic All-America honors, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore, have a minimum 3.3 cumulative GPA and be a starter or key reserve on his/her team.
The Bucknell men's soccer program has now had at least one Academic All-District honoree in 10 of the last 11 years. Bucknell has had 120 all-time national Academic All-Americans, the fifth-highest total among all Division I institutions.
