Austin, TX – For the first time in their Patriot careers, Gerard Liao and Shuma Sasaki earn College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Honors, announced by CSC on Tuesday. Their efforts both on the pitch and in the classroom garnered them Second Team honors.

Both players helped lead the Patriots to their sixth straight NAIA Postseason appearance. The pair helped guide UC to the NAIA National Tournament Semifinals for the first time in program history, finishing the season with a 15-3-3 overall record.

Liao just completed his final season with the Patriots, double-majoring in Business Administration and Computer Science. Earlier this season, he was awarded as a Daktronics NAIA Scholar Athlete and Mid-South Conference Academic All-Conference honoree.

On the pitch, Liao was named a MSC Second Team All-Conference honoree. The senior tallied 1,702 minutes on the season and recorded three goals and one assist. He marked season points on the season and helped hold opponents to 1.33 goals per game and .375 shots on goal percentage.

Sasaki just completed his final season with the Patriots, double-majoring in Business Administration and Marketing. Earlier this season, he was awarded as a Daktronics NAIA Scholar Athlete and Mid-South Conference Academic All-Conference honoree.

On the pitch, Sasaki was named a MSC First Team All-Conference honoree. The senior tallied 1,697 minutes on the season and recorded eight goals and five assists. He marked 18 points on the season.

This marks the fifth straight season a UC Men's Soccer player has earned the award and the first time in program history that two players were tabbed with the award.

To be eligible for this award a student-athlete must be a sophomore or higher with a minimum GPA of 3.50.  They also have played in at least 90% of its team's games as well as be a contributor on the field. There are 22 student-athletes on the Academic All-America list with 12 on First Team and 10 Second Team.

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