Shaffer, Sommerfeld named to CSC Academic All-America First Team in Men’s Soccer

By Wes Mayberry

| 2023 CSC Men's Soccer Academic All-America Teams (.pdf) |

ADA — Ohio Northern senior midfielder Will Shaffer (Galena/St. Francis DeSales) and junior forward Ryan Sommerfeld (Dublin/Coffman) were named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Academic All-America First Team, the organization announced on Tuesday.

Shaffer and Sommerfeld earned the accolade for the first time in their collegiate careers and were among 11 First Team selections and 34 total student-athletes named to one of the three teams in Division III. The complete Division III team had an average GPA of 3.87.

They joined Matt Ellis ('01), Cory Thigpen ('05) and Nate Bascom ('12) to give the Polar Bears five CSC Academic All-America First Team selections in program history. The ONU men's soccer team now has 14 total CSC Academic All-Americans dating back to 2000.

Shaffer and Sommerfeld were among six Polar Bears who received CSC Academic All-District recognition earlier this year. They were also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region VII Second Team, All-Ohio Athletic Conference First Team and were Academic All-OAC selections.

Sommerfeld played in all 23 games in 2023, starting 20 of them. The mechanical engineering major finished with a team-high 11 goals and 27 points while adding five assists. He tied for the OAC lead in goals and ranked third in the conference in points and 10th in assists. He was named OAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 23 after totaling a combined three goals and one assist against Wilmington and Muskingum.

In 49 career games, including 28 starts, he has 42 points on 16 goals and 10 assists.

Shaffer ranked second on the team in points (26) and goals (10) this season and tied for the team lead in assists with six while starting all 21 games in which he played. The finance major and two-time All-OAC honoree ranked fourth in the OAC in goals and assists and fifth in points and was named to the All-OAC Tournament Team. He earned OAC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 5 after scoring a combined three goals against Kenyon and Oberlin.

Shaffer has started all 43 of his matches at ONU and has 37 points on 13 goals and 11 assists. He was one of 30 of this year's Academic All-Americans among all divisions to boast a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The four Academic All-America teams — Division I, II, III and NAIA — feature 126 student-athletes with a combined GPA of 3.86.

Under fifth-year head coach Chris Matejka, the Polar Bears finished the 2023 season with a 13-6-4 overall record and were second in the OAC with a 7-1-1 mark in conference play. They won the OAC Tournament championship for the eighth time in program history and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight year and fifth time overall en route to being ranked No. 15 nationally in the final United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll.