Victor Salinas Furio, Gabriel Torres Become UDC’s First Men’s Soccer Academic All-Americans; Salinas Furio Earns First Team, Torres Second Team

WASHINGTON, DC – Senior Victor Salinas Furio has earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First Team Academic All-American honors, and sophomore Gabriel Torres has earned Second Team Academic All-American honors for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.

Salinas Furio and Torres are now the first ever Men's Soccer CoSIDA Academic All-Americans at UDC, and the 5^th and 6^th all-time across all sports. Salinas Furio is just the 2^nd Firebird ever to earn First Team Academic All-American, and he is the first since Women's Basketball's Alice Butler in 1981.

An Architecture major from Valencia, Spain, Salinas Furio finished his undergraduate degree with a 3.96 GPA and currently has a 4.0 GPA in his graduate work at UDC. He is a two-year member of the UDC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and he worked several semesters as a Research Intern for the Center for Sustainable Development and Resilience. Also, the East Coast Conference honored Salinas Furio with the Men's Soccer Elite 18 award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing in each of the ECC's 18 championship competitions.

Athletically, the standout defenseman is a two-time Third Team All-ECC honoree, and he has anchored a defensive unit with 11 shutout victories over the last three years, including six this season. Salinas Furio and the Firebirds back line held opponents to one goal or less in 13 of 22 games this season.

Torres, an Electrical Engineering major from Salvador, Brazil, currently has a 3.82 cumulative GPA. He is a Division II Conference Commissioners Association First Team All-American, the D2CCA's East Region Player of the Year, and the East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year. This year, he placed 2^nd on the school's all-time single-season records list with 52 points on 20 goals and 12 assists. At the Division II season's end, he finished nationally ranked No. 2  in total points, tied for No. 3 in goals, and T-7^th in assists.

The electrifying midfielder was a three-time ECC Offensive Player of the Week selection, and he scored at least one goal in 13 of UDC's 22 games, including six multiple goal games and one hat trick. Over his two-year career at UDC, he already has 69 points on 28 goals and 13 assists.