ST. LOUIS, Mo. (BGSU Strategic Communications) – A league-best six members of the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team have been voted to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team, the league office announced on Tuesday morning (Dec. 3). Junior Andrew Shaffer and sophomore Jake Lane each have been named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team, while Alberto Anaya, Kyle Cusimano, Josh Erlandson and Brendan Graves all have been chosen to the second team.

Shaffer earns first-team accolades for the second consecutive season, while Anaya and Graves each are repeat selections to the team. The 2024 season was the Falcons' second as a member of the MVC.

The team is the result of voting by the league's men's soccer sports information directors.

The criteria for the All-MVC honor parallels the (College Sports Communicator (CSC) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the season's matches. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen are not eligible).

Lane, a native of Chicago, Ill. (ASU Preparatory Acad. / Barca Residency Acad.), was named to the MVC's All-Tournament Team, and was the MVC Elite 18 Award winner. The latter is an award given to just one player at the conference tournament. He played in all 20 matches, making five starts. Lane had eight points on the season, tying for fifth on the team. Those eight points included a goal and six assists, ranking him third on the team and tying for fourth in the MVC in the latter category. Four of those eight points came in the MVC Tournament, as he had an assist in the quarterfinal win over UIC before being involved in the scoring of both BG goals in the championship match vs. Evansville. In the latter game, Lane had an assist less than one minute after checking into the match, then scored a goal six minutes later.

In the classroom, Lane is an individualized business major, and has a perfect 4.000 GPA at BGSU.
  
Shaffer, who hails from Galena, Ohio (St. Francis DeSales), started all 20 matches on the year, and ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 13 points. He had two goals, and tied for the team lead with nine assists. He currently ranks 16th in the nation in total assists and 31th in assists per game, tying for second in the MVC in assists. One of Shaffer's goals came in the MVC Tournament's championship match, and he had a two-assist match in a win over Butler. Through his junior season, Shaffer has career totals of 29 points on eight goals and 13 assists.

Shaffer, a finance major, has a 3.88 cumulative GPA at BGSU.

Anaya, a native of Queretaro, Mexico (ITESM Leon), was named to the All-MVC First Team for the second-straight year. He started all 20 matches, and finished third on the team in scoring, with 15 points. On the season, Anaya scored three goals and tied for the team lead with nine assists. Like Shaffer, he tied for second in the MVC in assists and is currently 16th in the nation in total assists and 31st in assists per game. Anaya's assist total includes a four-assist game vs. Eastern Illinois, which tied the school single game record. He posted double-digit point totals in all four seasons at BGSU, and finished with 53 career points on 15 goals and 23 assists. He is tied for ninth in school history in career assists, and is deadlocked for 19th on the BG career points list. And, with eight career game-winning goals, is tied for fifth on that school list.

Anaya, a finance major, has a 3.55 cumulative GPA at BGSU.

Cusimano, a native of Bay Village, Ohio (Bay), was the 2024 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, and also was named to the All-MVC First Team. The defender had six points on two goals and two assists, and the fifth-year Falcon played 1,667 of the first 1,668 minutes of the season (coming off the pitch due to an injury but returning after just over a minute) before being injured early in the second half of the MVC Tournament semifinal match. That injury forced him to miss the remainder of that match and all of the championship contest. Cusimano helped the Falcons keep six clean sheets on the season. He was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Sept. 3. In his stellar career, Cusimano played in 79 career matches, starting 78, for the Falcons. He is tied for 11th in school history in appearances and ranks seventh in career starts. And, he had 33 career points, on 10 goals and 13 assists.

Cusimano, an information systems major, has a 3.642 cumulative GPA.

Erlandson, from Dayton, Ohio (Dayton Christian), started all 20 matches, and led BGSU's field players in minutes played. He was on the field for 1,778 of the 1,809 total minutes, playing every minute of all but two matches. The only times he left the pitch in 2024 came after roughly 75 minutes of a pair of matches -- against Eastern Illinois, with BGSU leading, 5-0; and vs. Detroit Mercy, with the Falcons holding a 5-1 lead. Erlandson helped the Falcons keep six clean sheets on the season, and the defender also had a goal and an assist for three points on the year. A transfer from Huntington (Ind.) University, he played in 47 total matches at BGSU, starting 42 and scoring 10 points on four goals and two assists. Erlandson missed much of the 2023 season due to injury, but he started all 41 matches when he was healthy over the last three seasons.

Erlandson, an exercise science major, has a 3.741 cumulative GPA at BGSU.
 
Graves, a native of Perrysburg, Ohio (Perrysburg), was named to the All-MVC Second Team as well as the MVC's All-Tournament Team in 2024, and he was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week a league-high three times. He finished second in the MVC with a total of 79 saves, tied for the league lead with six shutouts. Graves had a 1.19 goals-against average on the season, including a GAA of just 0.88 in MVC regular-season matches. He also had a .767 saves percentage, ranking third in the MVC. Three of his clean sheets came in MVC regular-season action, with another coming in the league tournament semifinals. Graves started 61 matches in his BGSU career, and had 224 saves, 17 shutouts and a 1.24 GAA. He is seventh in BGSU history in career wins (28) and eighth in career shutouts. Graves also ranks 10th in school history in career saves and 13th in career GAA. He has played every second of the Falcons' last 60 matches, as no other BGSU 'keeper has been between the posts since Oct. 22, 2021.

Graves has a 3.745 cumulative GPA as a business analytics and intelligence major.

BGSU finished the season with an overall record of 12-6-2, and the Falcons went 4-3-1 in their second season in the MVC, tying for third in the nine-team league. The Orange and Brown picked up wins over UIC and Drake to advance to the championship match of the MVC Tournament, before falling in overtime to Evansville.

As of Dec. 3, BGSU ranks among the nation's top-30 teams in a multitude of categories, including total assists (seventh), assists per game (eighth), total points (10th), points per game (14th), total goals (15th), scoring offense (20th), goal differential (22nd), save pct. (25th) and shot accuracy (30th).

For more information on the BGSU men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMSoccer), Instagram (bgfalcons and bgsumsoccer) and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as here at BGSUFalcons.com.