Nov. 5, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior forward Jason Yeisley (Allentown, Pa.) and senior goalkeeper Conrad Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) have been selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II Team in recognition of their standout efforts on the soccer field and in the classroom. Yeisley was named to the first team while Taylor earned second team honors.
Yeisley, a management major, and Taylor, a kinesiology major, each maintain exceptional grade point averages in his chosen field of study, continuing the Penn State men's soccer tradition of academic excellence. In total, Nittany Lions have been named to academic all-region or all-America teams on 25 occasions. For Taylor, the district honor is his third consecutive after earning the accolade as a sophomore and junior. He then went on to be named academic all-America second team in 2005 and third team in 2006.
A team co-captain for the 2007 season, Jason Yeisley was emerging as a dominant offensive force and had firmly established himself as a legitimate All-America candidate when he sustained a season-ending knee injury versus Boston University on Oct. 13. The junior had made such an impact in 2007 that, despite missing the last six games, he remains the team leader in goals (6), points (16), shots (33), and shots on goal (15). At the time of his injury, he also topped the Big Ten in points and points per game.
With the academic all-district recognition, Yeisley will now advance to the national ballot and have the opportunity to earn academic all-America honors.
Conrad Taylor is poised to finish his Nittany Lion career bearing the status as one of the greatest goalkeepers in Penn State history. For the past four years, Taylor has been the anchor of the Penn State defense and its iron man between the pipes. A two-time First Team All-Big Ten selection, he has started 81 consecutive games, logging every available minute in goal since his freshman year, a remarkable span of over 7,700 minutes. A team captain in 2006 and 2007, Taylor ranks among the Nittany Lions' all-time top goalkeepers in goals against average and shutouts and owns a share of the Penn State record for shutouts in a season with 10, set in 2005.
On Thurs., Nov. 8, the fourth-seeded Nittany Lions will begin the pursuit of their fourth conference crown when they play host Michigan State, the No. 5 seed, in a 9 a.m. first round contest at the 2007 Big Ten Championship. All tournament games will be played at Old College Field on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing, Mich. Penn State possesses a 22-11-3 all-time record in Big Ten Championship play, one of just two conference teams to possess a winning mark in the postseason tournament.