Seven Men’s Soccer Student-Athletes Garner WCC All-Academic Honors

Posted: Dec 13, 2022

SAN MATEO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference recognized seven members of the Santa Clara men's soccer team with All-Academic honors on Tuesday. Alejandro Perez and Oladayo Thomas were named to the WCC All-Academic first team and five others – Alejandro Barajas, Caden Buckley, Joshua Dabora, Bar Hazut and Jack Murphy – named as honorable mention.

At the conclusion of each athletic season, the WCC selects an all-academic squad for each WCC-sponsored sport. To be considered, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average, while also being a significant contributor to his team and have at least sophomore athletic and academic standing with at least one year in residence completed at the nominating institution.

Perez, a graduate student, and Thomas, a senior, have cumulative grade point average of 4.0 and 3.524, respectively, to earn two of the 11 spots on the All-Academic First Team. For Perez, this is the third WCC All-Academic recognition after being named honorable mention in 2019 and 2020, while it is the second recognition for Thomas. Last season Thomas was named honorable mention.

A two-time co-captain, Perez appeared in nine matches this past fall including starts in all seven WCC matches in the backline. The San Jose, California native is currently working on his master's degree in finance and analytics.

Last month, Thomas was named first team All-West Coast Conference for the second-straight year. The forward from Lagos, Nigeria led the Broncos with nine points including a team-high four goals and will graduate with a degree in political science and international relations this fall.

Barajas is working towards a master of arts degree in educational leadership and has a GPA of 3.45. The midfielder from San Jose started in six of nine matches with five of those five starts against WCC opponents.

Buckley, a co-captain along with Perez this season, has a 3.87 GPA while majoring in finance. The midfielder from Las Vegas started in all 13 matches he appeared in and was third on the team with 1,090 minutes of action.

Dabora has a cumulative GPA of 3.379 while majoring in communications. This season, the redshirt junior forward started in seven of 11 matches he appeared in and tallied four points on a goal and a pair of assists.

Hazut is currently working on his masters of business administration with a 3.517 GPA. The graduate student from Tel Aviv, Israel appeared in nine matches this season and scored his first career goal, a game-winner, against San Francisco (Oct. 26).

This is the first all-academic recognition for Barajas, Buckley, Dabora and Hazut.

Murphy earned his second recognition after being named first team last season. The senior majoring in management has a 3.902 GPA. The midfielder from San Jose, California played in 14 matches and logged 457 minutes of action this season.

The Broncos had five student-athletes named WCC All-Academic in 2021.