ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum University's Ivan Andabak has been named the 2018 recipient of the South Atlantic Conference Elite 20 Award for men's soccer. Andabak was presented the award last weekend at the SAC Men's Soccer Championship in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The SAC Elite 20 Award 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 the each of the conference's 20 team championship sports.
Andabak, a senior midfielder from Solin, Croatia, has a 3.93 GPA while majoring in business management and administration. He is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum President's List, Dean's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and the TU Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
Andabak becomes the second Pioneer to earn the Elite 20 Award in the three-year history of the accolade. TU alum Jonathan Spicher was the inaugural winner of the award in 2016.
Andabak has played in 11 matches this season with three starts where he has totaled two goals and an assist for his five points. He scored the match-winning goal with 57 seconds remaining in TU's 2-1 come-from-behind win at Lee University. He added an insurance goal in Tusculum's 2-0 home win over Newberry College.
He has appeared in 40 career matches with 24 starts where he has accumulative five goals and two assists for his 12 career points.
The Pioneers (12-6-1) have rattled off a 10-1-1 record in its last 12 matches including six in a row to capture the program's league-leading seventh SAC Tournament Championship. TU is the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional and will face fifth-seeded Queens University of Charlotte on Friday at 7 p.m. in Young Harris, Georgia. The winner of that match will face national top-ranked Young Harris College on Sunday at 1 p.m.