Nov. 14, 2008

DALLAS — Kentucky men’s soccer standouts Tyler Burns and Chad Hagerty have been named to the All-Academic Conference USA team, the league office announced.

The duo have been fixtures in the midfield for the Wildcats, with Hagerty totaling a team-high five assists and one goal and Burns adding two goals and two assists. Burns, a native of Aura, Colo., got the scoring started for the No. 23 Wildcats in its C-USA Championship opening game with Marshall, netting a magnificent goal from which UK never looked back in a 4-2 win. Hagerty, a native of Louisville, Ky., has played in 18 games and started 14, totaling seven points on the year. During UK’s school-record eight-game unbeaten streak, Hagerty has totaled all of his scoring. 

Hagerty, a 2008 CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-District selection, maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Kinesiology-Exercise Science major. The veteran has plans to attend physical therapy school upon graduation. A 2007 C-USA All-Academic team member, Hagerty earned CoSIDA Academic All-District accolades in 2007, as well as 2008.

Burns, who has started all 19 games for UK in 2008 in the midfield, has had an amazing season in his second year, logging 1505 minutes. A member of the 2007 C-USA Commisioner’s Academic Honor Roll, Burns maintains a 3.735 GPA as a business-finance major. Burns, who played in 13 games as a true freshman, earned a 4.0 GPA in the spring of 2008.

The Kentucky soccer program has put a priority on academic success, boasting the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award four times, with the Wildcats earning UK Athletics Academic Team of the Year in three consecutive years at the annual CATSPY award dinner.

The Wildcats (11-4-4) return to the pitch in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Championship on Friday, facing UCF in a 6 p.m. ET matchup at SMU’s Westcott Field.