Simen Haraldstad and Santiago Corral collect First Team Academic All-America honors from CSC

AUSTIN, Texas (December 19, 2023) – Milligan University men's soccer players Simen Haraldstad and Santiago Corral were named to the NAIA Academic All-America© First Team by the College Sports Communicators on Tuesday.

The duo are the 31st and 32nd Academic All-America honorees in school history. Milligan and Grace were the only two teams to have multiple first team selections. The Buffs previously had defender Elies Sebbouh and goalkeeper Jan Kuepper earn Academic All-America First Team status in 2021.

Haraldstad, a business administration major with a 3.88 cumulative grade-point average, served as the Buffs' team captain in the record-breaking 2023 campaign. A two-time all-conference player as a holding midfielder, he was a 2023 All-Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) First Team selection and a 2021 All-AAC Second Team honoree. In 2023 he notched seven goals, four of which were game-winners, and two assists.

Haraldstad scored a pair of memorable game-winning goals in the NAIA Men's Soccer National Tournament. He knocked in a game-winner in the 71st minute off a corner kick to lead the Buffs to a 2-0 victory over No. 10 William Carey. In the national semifinal, Haraldstad cashed a penalty kick in double overtime to send the Buffs to their first NAIA National Championship Game in any team sport.

Corral enjoyed a standout season as a graduate transfer in 2023. He graduated from Mercy University with a degree in communications with a 3.62 GPA and posted a 3.82 graduate GPA while pursuing a Master of Arts in Humanities at Milligan. Corral turned in one of the most prolific goal-scoring seasons in program history as he led the Buffs with 18 goals and had four assists.

Corral was named to the All-AAC First Team and ranked seventh in the nation in goals and 13th in points. He was honored as the AAC Tournament MVP after notching three goals in the conference tournament. He scored the game-winner in a 1-0 conference semifinal victory over St. Andrews and notched a brace in the Buffs' 4-0 victory over (RV) Tennessee Wesleyan in the conference final. In the national tournament, Corral scored in the 81st minute against No. 6 Mobile and assisted on the game-winner in the national quarterfinal against Bellevue.

Milligan claimed AAC regular season and tournament titles in 2023. The Buffs knocked off three top-10 opponents in the NAIA National Tournament to reach the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Game where the Buffs finished as the national runner-up. Milligan enjoyed a record 21-game unbeaten streak during the year and finished with a 19-3-4 record.