FRESNO, Calif. - The Ashford University men's soccer team had three players earn the distinction of being named 2009 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes in goalkeeper Nick Roman of Belvidere, Ill., and midfielders Keith Caldwell of Garden Prairie, Ill., and Macklin Larsen of Rockford, Ill.

As an entity, the NAIA named 256 student-athletes in an announcement made earlier today.

With three sports revealed to date (men's soccer, volleyball, cross country), Ashford has a total of nine honorees.

Nominated by each institution's head coach, candidates needed to be in junior status and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale to qualify.

Caldwell (Pre-Law) and Larsen (Business Administration) are repeat recipients in their senior year and Roman (Computer Graphic Design) met the criteria in his first year of eligibility.