Ben Damge Named to CSC Academic All-District Men’s Soccer Team
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky men’s soccer senior Ben Damge has been named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Men’s Soccer Team for the second consecutive year.
The 2023 Academic All-District® Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams, selected by CSC, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
Nicknamed “The Hammer” by Kentucky head coach Johan Cedergren, Damge has excelled during his four years at UK academically, but also athletically.
The Mason, Ohio native was honored on this year’s list with an impressive 3.93 grade-point average as a Finance and Accounting major. The senior forward has played in 59 matches with 18 career starts. He has recorded 12 goals and five assists seeing his best performance against Georgia Southern last season where he recorded the first hat trick for UK in nine years. This season, Damge saw his best match at Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The hometown hero scored a brace to advance the Wildcats to the second round of the big dance.
Damge was named to the 2020 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, 2021 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll, and C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and Academic Medal recipient in 2020. In 2022, he was a CSC Academic All-America First Team honoree following CSC Academic All-District honors. He was also named to the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll. In addition to his academic honors, the forward has additionally received Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament honors the past two seasons.
Damge has been an asset to the Lexington community as he has volunteered his time at Julius Marks Elementary School’s monthly Celebration Day, packing food boxes with God’s Pantry, as well as running tabling events with Donate Life and UK softball’s Big Blue Boo. He also attended a local Career Day where he inspired young students with stories about his experiences as a Kentucky Wildcat.
Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced December 19 (men) and December 20 (women). The CSC Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed at the links above.
For the latest on Kentucky Men’s Soccer, follow @UKMensSoccer on X, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
