UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Senior forward Julian Cardona of the Penn State men’s soccer team received another postseason honor Thursday (Nov. 29) afternoon as he was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Third Team, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The accolade comes following a season of successes for the Lincoln, Neb., native and his team as Penn State (9-5-3, 3-1-2 Big Ten) collected its first Big Ten regular-season title since 2005.
"Julian has represented Penn State well on the field, off the field and in the classroom," head coach Bob Warming said. "I have had the pleasure of knowing Julian and his family for a decade. He has also been a great representative of his wonderful family. He will continue to be an excellent representative of Penn State in the future. I am looking forward to seeing what he does with his life."
In the classroom, Cardona has excelled on the way to a 3.81 GPA while studying Agribusiness Management. Before transferring to Penn State, Cardona earned a spot on the Horizon League All-Academic team as a sophomore at Butler. He becomes the first Academic All-America nominee since forward Jason Yeisley in 2009. In total, Nittany Lions have been named to academic all-region/district or All-America teams on 32 occasions.
Cardona was named First Team All-District II Nov. 1, becoming the first Nittany Lion to add his name to the list since the trio of Andy Parr, Andres Casais and Drew Cost in 2010.
Cardona opened the 2012 season with offensive fireworks, scoring two goals in each of the first two games against Stetson and Hartford to match his 2011 scoring output in just 127 minutes of play. He went on to finish the regular season fourth in the Big Ten in points (14) and goals (6) while adding a pair of assists to his account. For his offensive proficiency, Cardona found his way on the Second Team All-Big Ten list.
Under the guidance of head coach Bob Warming, named the 2012 Big Ten Coach of the Year, Cardona helped lead the Nittany Lions to a 3-1-2 finish in conference play to share the regular-season crown with Northwestern along with handing the Wildcats their first loss in Big Ten action since Nov. 11, 2010.
For the full release and list of 2012 Capital One Academic All-America nominees, click here.