Babson Park, MA --- The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference announced its 2008 Men's Soccer Academic All-Conference Team on Thursday, as five WPI student-athletes were named to the team.

Senior midfielder Ben Gilde (Manchester, NH) led the WPI selections. This marks the third consecutive year that Gilde has been named to the Academic All-Conference team. The senior led WPI with six goals and 14 points. Junior defenseman Tyler Carroll (Andover, MA) has received this honor multiple years as well, as he was also selected Academic All-Conference in 2007.

Junior defenseman Rens Hayes (Norton, MA), sophomore goalkeeper Paul Moan (Watertown, MA) and sophomore midfielder Keeon Tabrizi (Harvard, MA) each earned Academic All-NEWMAC for the first time.

This fall the Engineers finished 8-8-1 and fell 1-0 in the NEWMAC quarterfinals to second-seeded MIT, a team that earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

In order to be considered for the Academic All-Conference team, student-athletes must have met the following criteria: earned a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5/4.0 scale or 4.35/5.0 scale after the 2008 spring semester, achieved second year academic status at her institution, and been a member of the varsity team for the entire season.

The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference consists of 10 highly selective institutions committed to academic excellence: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

The 2008 NEWMAC Men's Soccer Academic All-Conference Team

Daniel Fogarty                   2010    Babson
Sean Gleason                    2010    Babson
Soeren Hilck                      2010    Clark
Andrew Ninnemann           2010    Clark
Tom Harner                       2011    Coast Guard
Andrew Bishara                2009    MIT
Peter Bojo                        2011    MIT
Jason Bouhenguel            2009    MIT
Tom Caldwell                    2009    MIT
Matthew Cornachione      2009    MIT
Joshua Gafford                 2010    MIT
Tristan Kooistra                2009    MIT
Alexander Mannion           2011    MIT
Jacob Shapiro                   2011    MIT
Adam Talsma                    2010    MIT
Christian Therkelsen         2011    MIT
Jason Zhu                         2011    MIT
Neil Zimmerman                2009    MIT
David Kotulski                   2010    Springfield
John Plourd                       2010    Springfield
Tyler Carroll                      2010   WPI
Ben Gilde                          2009    WPI
Rens Hayes                      2010    WPI
Paul Moan                        2011    WPI
Keeon Tabrizi                   2011    WPI

NEWMAC Release