BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's soccer team continued its academic success with 11 student-athletes earning a spot on the 2022 Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic Team.
 
Seniors Teagan Eldridge and Gus Diehl headlined the 11 selections becoming the first four-time GNAC Academic All-Stars in program history. Eldridge carries a 3.72 GPA as a Physical Education/Health major and Diehl has maintained a 3.94 GPA as he nears completion of his Finance and Accounting degree.
 
Western has now placed at least 10 players on the GNAC All-Academic team in each of the last six years, combining for 71 academic all-conference honors during this stretch beginning in 2017.
 
In addition to the strong academic success, the Vikings are off to the best undefeated start in program history at 7-0-3 and are currently in first place in the GNAC at 3-0-0. WWU is currently one of only eight undefeated programs in all of NCAA Division II and hold a No. 20 national ranking.
 
Senior Danny Fazio, junior Brandon Locke, junior Theo Steinmetz and senior Alessandro Tomasi earned their third GNAC Academic All-Star award. Junior Mitchell Hutter, senior Patrick Restum, sophomore Jacob Sundberg and senior Elliott Rains became two-time award winners and senior Dakota Stamnes earned the award in his final season as a Viking.

WWU's 11 GNAC All-Academic team members in 2022
The 2022 GNAC All-Academic Team includes 42 repeat honorees, accounting for 76.4 percent of the team's total selections. Fourteen honorees are being recognized for the third time and four earned their fourth selections. The four-time selections are Montana State Billings senior Bryan Maxwell, Northwest Nazarene senior Daniel Brendel and Western Washington seniors Gus Diehl and Teagan Eldridge.
 
Northwest Nazarene led the conference with 16 total selections, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the Nighthawks' total roster. Saint Martin's finished with 14 selections and Western Washington had 11 award winners.
 
To qualify for the GNAC All-Academic Team, presented by Barnes & Noble College, nominees must be of sophomore eligibility or greater, have a minimum cumulative GPA or 3.20 or greater, be a letterwinner on their team and must be in their second year at the nominating institution.

M⚽️ | Congratulations to the @SoccerWWU team for having 11 players earn GNAC All-Academic honors!

A Starting XI of Academic All-Stars! pic.twitter.com/W3OqxVMfO4
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) October 5, 2022

  Here is a listing of the 11 WWU men's soccer student-athletes that earned GNAC All-Academic honors for the 2022 season:
  . The Western Washington University men's soccer program is led by head coach Greg Brisbon, who has spent over 20 seasons affiliated with WWU Soccer. The Vikings won the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, the third league trophy in program history, and advanced to the NCAA II Championships for the second time. The program is in its 43rd season in 2022 and has recorded an overall record at or above the .500 mark in eight of the last nine seasons, including a 13-5-1 mark in 2019 and 11-6-1 in 2018. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. Overall the program has produced 58 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 30 First Team All-GNAC players and 4 GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001. Off the field, WWU has built a strong academic reputation with 71 GNAC All-Academic selections over the last six years.