DeKALB — Three NIU men’s soccer players have been selected to the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference men’s soccer scholar-athlete first and second teams, announced by the league office Wednesday.

Senior defenders Dylan Banker and Parker Jeppson took home first team honors while senior goalkeeper Jakub Rojek was a second team selection.

Banker is a kinesiology major with a 3.80 grade point average. He was one of three Huskies to start all 17 matches this season. The McHenry native received 2022 Academic-All District honors and was a Academic All-MAC selection twice in 2021 and 2022, according to an NIU Athletics news release.

Jeppson is majoring in sport management with a 3.95 GPA. His lone goal and pair of assists in 2023 make him the Huskies’ top-scoring defender of the season. Like his teammate Banker, Jeppson also earned 2022 Academic All-District and Academic All-MAC honors.

Rojek owns a 3.76 GPA as an entrepreneurship and social responsibility major. He manned the net for NIU in 14 contests in 2023, posting clean sheets in three of them. Rojek averaged 6 saves per match to rank third in the country in that statistical category.

Student-athletes nominated for All-MVC honors must be starters or important reserves and possess a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Nominees must also have played in 75% of their team’s matches during the season. Finally, student-athletes must hold a sophomore standing, academically and athletically, at their school and must have completed a full academic year at said school.