Four Brandeis soccer players have been selected for the Capital One Academic All-District squads. The teams are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. By being chosen for the All-District team, they are eligible to received Academic All-America honors later this month. The four athletes have excelled both on and off the field, each earning captain status and starting every match this year. They are Kelly Peterson ’14, Michelle Savuto ’15, Ben Applefield ’14 and Sam Ocel ’13.
Peterson has been a two-time honorable mention for All-UAA honors and been honored three times for Academic All-UAA’s. She has a 3.69 GPA and has made the dean’s list four times. She is majoring in Sociology and minoring in Social Justice and Social Policy. Peterson studied abroad in the Netherlands last semester and was an International Affairs intern in Houston over the summer with the World Affairs Council of Houston. Throughout her four year, Peterson has played 70 games, and 34 of her 50 shot attempts have been on-goal and she has had a game-winning goal in each of her first three seasons.
Goalkeeper Savuto has played 1535 of the team’s 1595 minutes this season. She has received Academic All-UAA honors twice and been named to the dean’s list every semester. She has a 3.82 GPA as a Health: Science, Society and Policy major while also minoring in Economics and Legal Studies. She has been named the UAA defensive player of the week three times in her career as she currently leads the conference with 73 saves. Savuto studied abroad in the Netherlands this spring and worked in Waltham over the summer with Boston Biomedical Consultants. She has played 56 games in her three years and has amassed 180 saves for a record of 15-14-5. This year has been her strongest, having had all three of her career shutouts this season.
Senior Applefield’s eight assists are currently tied for the conference lead with teammate Michael Soboff. Applefield received All-UAA Honorable Mention last year as well as receiving All-UAA Academic Honors for three years. He has made the dean’s list four times with a 3.65 GPA while majoring in History. He studied abroad this spring in Barcelona. Applefield has played in 79 games, scoring six goals and contributing 18 assists, and two of his goals have been game-winners. According to the Brandeis athletics website, he hopes to coach soccer after graduation.
Ocel has taken a more defensively minded role this year, but he has still contributed three goals and three assists. Last year he led the conference with 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists while becoming conference player of the year. Nine of these goals were game-winners. In addition to such great soccer success, he was named an All-Academic by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and D3Soccer.com. He has earned All-UAA honors three times and made the dean’s list five times. Last spring he interned at an endodontic office in preparation for dental school. He has a 3.41 GPA as a Biology major. He has played in 79 games, scoring 26 goals and contributing 22 assists.
