BOSTON – Nigel Leo of the Suffolk men's soccer team was selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team, the organization announced Thursday.
Leo is the second-ever men's soccer player to earn Academic All-District distinction following Tucker Mee '21 who made history a year ago as the program's first-ever honoree.
The 2021 Academic All-District Men's Soccer team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom. All nominees must have a GPA of 3.30 or above, be a starter or important reserve, and have competed in at least 75 percent of a team's competition.
Leo, the second-ever men's soccer player to take home the accomplishment, becomes the 23rd Suffolk student-athlete to pick up the feat, 12th since 2017. He is the one of two representative of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) on the 2021 list. Leo earned the honor in District 1, which is comprised of institutions in Maine and Massachusetts, while Casey Kelly of Salve Regina was chosen in District 2, made up of programs from Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. For a full list of 2021-22 Men's Soccer CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees, click here.
The midfielder from Rancho Palos Verdes, California, was a crucial cog to Suffolk's success this season that saw the blue-and-gold reach the CCC post-season in its first year in the league. The graduate transfer from Belmont recorded a team-best 24 points, good for the fourth most in the CCC. His stat line is broken down to a team-best 11 goals, which sits fourth amongst his conference counterparts, and two assists. For his efforts on the pitch he grabbed an All-CCC First-Team nod, becoming the first Ram to be a first-team all-league selection since Alberto Bittan grabbed Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) first-team status in 2016.
In the classroom, Leo built a 3.75 undergrad GPA at Belmont and has worked his MBA coursework into a 3.63 GPA while at Suffolk.
First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot where first-, second-, and third-team Academic All-American will be named next month following a vote by CoSIDA members within their division.
Awarded by CoSIDA to the most accomplished student-athletes for academic and athletic achievements each year since 1952, this is the longest-running and most prestigious academic and athletic award for student-athletes to receive.