Four Wildcats Named to College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Soccer Team
LEXINGTON, Ky. – College Sports Communicators unveiled its 2022 men’s soccer Academic All-District selections on Tuesday with Kentucky’s Luis Grassow, Ben Damge, Andrew Erickson and Martin Soereide each earning a spot on the list.
The 2022 Academic All-District Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams, selected by CSC, recognizes 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 soccer honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA — for each gender.
Grassow, the senior representative for the Wildcats, is majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminology with a 3.87 GPA. The Munich, Germany native has seen great successes in all aspects of his collegiate career. He has earned numerous academic honors including selections for the Southeastern Conference First-Year and Fall Academic Honor Rolls in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognition in 2019 and 2020, and the 2020 C-USA Academic Medal.
The senior defender has also received numerous awards for his athletic efforts including 2022 Sun Belt Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, 2022 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team honoree, and 2022 Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team this season alone. Throughout his time as a Wildcat, Grassow has contributed to over 20 clean sheets in 57 matches played. He has also recorded six goals, five assists, and 31 shots with 15 on goal in his three years on the pitch for UK.
Ben Damge was the next Wildcat to be honored on the list with an impressive 3.95 GPA as a Finance and Accounting major. The junior forward has played in 37 matches throughout his time at Kentucky including 17 so far in the 2022 campaign. He has recorded eight goals and four assists seeing his best performance against Georgia Southern where he recorded the first hat trick for UK in nine years. He 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.
Andrew Erickson, a junior double majoring in Marketing and Communications, was next on be honored with a 3.55 GPA. As a freshman, the San Antonio native was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. He was also named to the 2021 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll as a sophomore. The junior midfielder earned Sun Belt Conference Second Team honors this season after appearing in 12 matches before injury caused him to sit out for some of the proceeding games. As a Wildcat, Erickson has recorded 950 minutes on the pitch earning one assist and 11 shots with two on goal.
The third and final Wildcat to be listed on the distinguished Academic All-District list was sophomore Martin Soereide. The Jessheim, Norway native has seen playing time in 38 matches earning 19 starts in his two years in Blue and White. He has tallied two goals and five assists, as well as nine shots with nine on goal in 1,900 minutes played. As a freshman, the midfielder was named to the C-USA All-Tournament team.
Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in early December.
For the latest on Kentucky Men’s Soccer, follow @UKMensSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
