ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College's Jonathan Spicher was named the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Elite 18 honoree announced league officials Friday.  This is a new award for the SAC and honors the student-athlete with the top cumulative grade-point average based on a minimum of 48 credit hours who is competing at the final site of each of the Conference's 18 team championship sports.

Spicher, a senior from Cologne, Germany, carries a 4.0 GPA with a double-major in management accounting and business administration. 

On the pitch, Spicher the equalizing goal in the final moments of regulation in TC's 3-2 overtime victory over defending NCAA Division II national champion Pfeiffer University earlier this year.  During the 2014 season, he was named to the All-SAC second team and was a 2015 SAC Men's Soccer All-Tournament Team selection.

He was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® team last season and is a two-time Academic All-District selection, including first team honors this year.  Spicher has been a mainstay on the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll during his career at Tusculum.  During his freshman year at TC, he was tabbed the Co-Tusculum Freshman of the Year Academic Award winner.

Spicher and the Pioneers (15-3) have advanced to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship match for a second time in three years and an eighth time overall. The second-seeded Pioneers will face No. 5-seed Lincoln Memorial University on Sunday at 4 p.m. from Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, South Carolina.