Article By: Dan Ryan

Despite the fact that their seasons drew to a close weeks ago, Suffolk’s men’s and women’s soccer teams and their coaches received a prestigious award earlier this week: both teams were given the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Academic/Adidas College Team Award for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to a release on the Athletics Department website.

The award is given to squads whose team GPA is 3.00 or higher on a 4.00 scale. The NSCAA has been giving out the award each year since 1996. The NSCAA is, according to its website, the largest association of coaches in the world.

According to www.GoSuffolkRams.com, Suffolk accomplished a rare feat in having both it’s men’s and women’s soccer teams selected for the award, as only 97 colleges and universities in all of college soccer (Divisions I-III) had both programs honored. One of the 96 (other than Suffolk) was the Rams’ cross-Common and GNAC rivals, Emerson College.

The women’s team, which was honored for the second-straight season, had a team GPA of 3.00. The men’s team had a team GPA of 3.07.

Nationwide, there were 326 women’s programs honored, compared to 141 men’s programs. A complete list of the colleges receiving the award can be seen on the NSCAA’s website (www.NSCAA.com).