Two Wildcats Named to 2022 CSC Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Team
LEXINGTON, Ky. – College Sports Communicators unveiled its 2022 Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Team with both Ben Damge and Luis Grassow earning first-team honors on Wednesday.
The 2022 Academic All-District Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams were selected by CSC last month recognizing 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. Damge and Grassow were joined by Andrew Erickson and Matin Soereide on the All-District Team.
Damge received first-team honors 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 in the 2022 campaign. He 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 was an Academic Medal recipient in 2020.
Grassow, a senior representative for the Wildcats, is majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminology with a 3.87 GPA. The Munich, Germany native received first-team honors after seeing 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 honors, 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.
Damge and Grassow join Sean Endicot (1995-96), Ilkka Jantti and Chris McAlpine (2001-02), Chad Hagerty (2007-08), Tyler Riggs (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14) and Brock Lindow (2021-22) as Academic All-Americans in UK men’s soccer program history.
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