Kansas City, Mo. --- Three members of the University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's soccer team earned All-American honors, two for their skills on the pitch and a third for his excellence in the classroom.

Freshman forward Scott Bibby (Doncaster, England), the Mid-South Conference Player and Freshman of the Year, along with junior mid-fielder/forward Ederson Lopes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) were named 1^st Team All-American. 

"Scott Bibby, coming as a freshman, first-year player certainly did extremely well," said Rio Grande head coach Scott Morrissey. "As a goal-scorer, he scored quite a few goals and that's the name of the game, putting the ball in the back of the net and he certainly did that."

"We're certainly proud of his accomplishment," Morrissey said. "Reflecting now on the season as a first-year student-athlete, he's done extremely well. "

Bibby led the RedStorm in scoring with 24 goals and eight assists (56 points). 

Junior Nick Hewison (Accrington, England) earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors for his work in the classroom. Hewison is majoring in Physical Education. "Nick is an outstanding student-athlete," Morrissey said. "He certainly models what any coach would want in his program on and off the field."

"It's certainly a great honor for Nick to be named a scholar-athlete," he added.

NAIA Scholar-Athletes are nominated by each institution's head coach. A student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

Morrissey was also surprised that more Rio players did not appear on the list. "I'm really happy for all three of the guys, however looking through the first, second and third team All-Americans, I must admit I'm a little disappointed that one or two other Rio players weren't recognized," he said. "For me and our coaching staff, we all agree that Phil Stansfield (Yorkshire, England) was the most consistent player the entire season."

"I just would have thought that Stanny would have been on one of those three teams for sure," Morrissey added. "Another player that comes to mind, two really, Neil Harries (Lancashire, England) and Marc Young (Rishton, England), two very integral parts of our defense. I thought that they were deserving and Richard Isberner (Sao Paulo, Brazil), another freshman who had an outstanding year."

Rio Grande finished the season 18-3-3 and advanced to the national semifinals for the fourth-time in school history.