MSOC: Bruins’ Sanders Named to Academic All-District VIII First Team

NEWBERG, Ore. - Zach Sanders, whose versatility has made him a key player for the George Fox University Bruins over the past four seasons, has been named to the ESPN The Magazine / CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII Men's Soccer College Division First Team as voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Sanders has compiled a grade point average of 3.64 as an economics major at George Fox.  He is joined on the Academic All-District Team by goalkeeper Tyler Hadzinsky of Chapman, midfielders David Bakal of California-San Diego and Avery Neal of Pacific (Ore.), defenders Ben Coffey of Puget Sound, Stuart Gallant of Sonoma State, Bryan Olson of Whitworth, and Andy Wolverton of Seattle Pacific, and forwards Travis Birrell of Pacific, Federico Cino of Cal State-Los Angeles, and Keith Kirsch of Whitworth.  All First Teamers are automatically nominated for Academic All-America honors.

Sanders spent his first three seasons as as an oft-injured defender for the Bruins, appearing in 13 games as a freshman, only six as a sophomore, and 12 as a junior.  Switched to midfielder this season to take advantage of his passing skills and finally fully healthy, the senior from Puyallup, Wash., has responded with four goals on only 12 shots and four assists for 12 points.  He is second on the Bruins in assists, tied for second in points, and tied for third in goals.  His assists total is tied for 10th in the Northwest Conference, and he was honorable mention once for NWC Men's Soccer Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week.

In a 10-0 win over Walla Walla, Sanders had the biggest game of his career with two goals and an assist.  That followed right after a 4-0 win over Northwest Christian in which he had both a goal and an assist.  He also assisted on the game-winning goal vs. Whitman in the Bruins' latest outing, a 2-1 win over the Missionaries.

District VIII of CoSIDA consists of all sports information directors and college sports media relations personnel from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawai'i, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho.  This is the sixth year for the CoSIDA Academic All-America teams to be sponsored by ESPN The Magazine.   The complete lists of Academic All-America and All-District Teams are available on line at http://www.cosida.com/Awards/allamerica.aspx.