Trojans Receive Program-Best Five CoSIDA Academic All-District Awards

CoSIDA Academic All-District Men's Soccer Team | TU Honor's Page

UPLAND, Ind. – The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) has announced the 2021 Academic All-District award-winners for each of the three NCAA divisions and the NAIA, and the Taylor University men's soccer team secured five spots on the list.

Andrew Siegelin, Sawyer Watterson, Josh Zeidan, Luke Holwerda, and Quinn Partain were the five Trojans to receive the Academic All-District honor, fueling Taylor to its best CoSIDA mark in program-history.

Across all four levels of play, South Carolina and its six All-District award-winners was the only school to receive more honors than Taylor.

Trojan student-athletes landed five of the 16 spots on the NAIA District 2 list, which consists of schools from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

For senior captain, Quinn Partain, this year's honor marks the third CoSIDA Academic All-District award of his career. A computer science and systems major with a 3.91 GPA, Partain started 16 of Taylor's 17 matches in 2021 while leading the team with five goals.

Fellow senior, Luke Holwerda, trailed Partain for the team-lead by just one goal while leading the league with 48 shots taken, which earned him an Honorable-Mention All-Crossroads League recognition. All the while, Holwerda maintained a 3.76 GPA within his studio art major.

The final senior to make the list, Josh Zeidan, posted a perfect 4.0 GPA while pursuing a bachelor's degree in business. Zeidan, a native of Santiago, Chile, had his most active season in a Trojan uniform, playing in 11 games and scoring his first-career goal against Indiana Wesleyan on October 2nd.

Sawyer Watterson completed his first season for the Trojans, after having transferred from Crossroads-foe Spring Arbor. Watterson played a large role for Taylor in 2021, starting in 16 of the team's 17 matches while finishing the season second on the team with three assists. Meanwhile, Watterson excelled in the classroom as shown by a spotless 4.0 GPA in the midst of a treacherous human physiology and preventative medicine course load.

Andrew Siegelin rounded out the list for the Trojans, a junior who maintained a 3.72 GPA while navigating a psychology degree. Siegelin played in 10 matches this season, scoring two goals and serving an additional assist for a total of five points.

The CoSIDA Academic All-District award is designed to recognize student-athletes for outstanding achievements, both in the classroom and on the field. In order to be eligible for the honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher on a 4.0 scale, achieved sophomore status academically with at least one full-year at their current institution, and participated in over half of the team's competitions as a key contributor during the current season.

Student-athletes are nominated for the award by their institution's Sports Information Department and voted on by CoSIDA members from around the nation.

Taylor's five All-District award-winners will now advance to a ballot for All-American honors, which will be announced on December 7th, 2021.