Monday, November 23, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three Seattle Pacific soccer players were selected on the 2015 Division II CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams, announced Monday. The Falcons’ Shayla Page was placed on the women’s first team, while Davis Karaica and Jordan Kollars were selected to the men’s second team.

Page is a senior defender for Seattle Pacific with a 3.95 GPA as a communications major. She was also selected onto the first team as a junior. This season, Page was a First Team All-GNAC selection after heading one of the conference’s best defenses. She helped lead the Falcons to a third place finish in the regular season and runnerups at the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships. Seattle Pacific was then voted into the NCAA Division II Championships as the No. 5 seed and won its first match 2-1 over UC San Diego. Page scored one goal on the season and played 1735 minutes, recording 90 or more minutes in 15 of 20 matches.

Karaica is a junior defender playing for SPU’s men’s soccer team with a 3.70 GPA as an exercise science major. Like Page, Karaica was a First Team All-GNAC selection this year, earning the recognition for the third straight season. He led the top-ranked Falcons’ defense which allowed just nine goals all year. Karaica played every minute in 15 of 18 matches this year for Seattle Pacific. The Falcons were the GNAC Champions and were the No. 2 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Division II Championships.

Kollars is a junior midfielder for the Falcons and one of the top student athletes in the conference with a 3.95 GPA in engineering. On the soccer pitch, the Silverdale, Wash. native was selected Honorable Mention All-GNAC after solidifying the middle of the field on the GNAC’s top defense. Kollars also chipped in one goal and three assists and started in all 18 games this year for the Falcons as a defensive midfielder.

The academic awards program is produced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Student-athletes must have at least a 3.30 grade-point average, have already completed one season of competition and be a starter or significant reserve to be nominated. All three SPU players earned All-District honors to advance to the All-American ballot.