BATON ROUGE — The LSU soccer team has received the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award for the 2004-05 school year, it was announced by the organization Thursday.
The award is presented annually to intercollegiate soccer programs that maintain a team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher for a given academic year.
The Tigers posted a 3.16 team GPA in 2004-05 and are one of seven teams in the Southeastern Conference to receive this honor. Joining the Tigers are Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
“We are proud of the commitment our student-athletes have made to excel in the classroom as well as the playing field,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “They are taking advantage of the many opportunities LSU provides, and included in that is using the best facilities in the country to succeed in the classroom and one day earn a degree.”
Lee believes much of his team’s academic success is due to the support provided by the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, which opened in the fall of 2002 under the direction of Dr. Roger Grooters.
“Our academic center is one of the best facilities in the country, and our players are taking every advantage of the support it provides them,” Lee said. “Dr. Grooters and his staff do a great job of meeting the needs of our student-athletes, and we are fortunate to reap the benefits of their hard work.”