Four Cougars earn National honors
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Four Cougars earn National honors
Columbia, Mo. – Earlier today the NAIA released the members of the 2009 NAIA Soccer All-American and Scholar-Athlete squads. Cougar senior Ilya Grin was named and NAIA Daktronics All-America Scholar-Athlete while Nikola Velickovic was named a Third Team All-American and Lloyd Jacobs and Ken Searles received honorable mention accolades.
Members of the scholar-athlete squad must hold at least junior status academically and hold a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Grin is receiving the honor for the first time.
Grin is a native of Melbourne, Australia. and is one of five four-year seniors on the Cougar squad. Ilya notched three goals and three assists this season as a defender for Columbia. In four years Ilya has played in 73 games for the Cougars and has contributed six goals and 10 assists.
Nikola Velickovic, a native of Cacak, Serbia, just finished his first season with the Cougar and for his efforts was named first team all-conference and AMC Co-Freshman of the Year. The defender earned one goal and one assist on the season and led Columbia to 11 shutouts. Nikola is one of 14 players across the NAIA that was named to the third team. Velickovic becomes the ninth Cougar soccer player to earn first, second or third team accolades.
Ken Searles is also new to the Cougar program this year and earned AMC Newcomer of Year and first team honors as a junior. Searles, a native of St. George’s, Grenada, started in 19 games in goal for the Cougars. Ken led Columbia with over nine shutouts this season. He had 60 saves and allowed just 16 goals this season.
Lloyd Jacobs, a senior from Stokesley, England, was a first team all-conference midfielder for the Cougars. Lloyd’s 14 assists this season set a new Columbia College single season record for assists, breaking the old record of 12. In four years with the Cougars Lloyd played in 73 games and has scored 17 goals and 21 assists.