TOWSON, Md. - Bradley Soccer senior defender Bobby Smith (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart-Griffin H.S.) has become the sixth student-athlete in school history to earn first-team Capital One Academic All-America® honors, as determined by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The 2011 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Men's Soccer Team was announced Thursday and the 11-player first team included four from the Missouri Valley Conference.  Overall, Smith becomes the 17th Bradley student-athlete to earn Academic All-America® honors from CoSIDA and the fourth soccer player.

A finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in men's soccer, Smith also has been nominated for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America Team.  He boasts a 3.93 cumulative grade point average in Bradley's Accounting 3:2 program.  He will graduate in May in four years from the 5-year program, which awards both a bachelor's and master's degree.  Among his long list of awards, Smith was the inaugural recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference Elite 18 Award in 2010 and he has served on the Braves Council and MVC Student-Athlete Advisory Council for the last two years.

On the field, Smith was a starter in 73 of the 78 career games he played at Bradley, helping the Braves to the 2010 State Farm MVC Tournament title and consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament (2010, 2011) for the first time in program history.

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale, have reached sophomore in academic and athletic standing at his institution and be nominated by his sports information director.

Previous Bradley Soccer players to earn Capital One Academic All-America® awards include:  Dan Thorstenson (second team in 1999, first team in 2000); Adam Hage (second team in 2005); and Todd Reedy (second team in 2006, first team in 2007).  In addition to Thorstenson and Reedy, other first-team Academic All-America® honorees from Bradley include:  Judy Burns (1983 women's basketball); Brad Canada (2005 baseball); and Eitan Barbalat (2008 baseball).