Ben Sippola Earns Horizon League Academic Honor

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Butler senior men’s soccer standout Ben Sippola, who combined on-the-field success with classroom excellence, has been named Horizon League Male Scholar-Athlete of the Month for November.  He earned the league  recognition for the second time this season.

Sippola, who helped lead the Bulldogs to a 16-1-3 season, Horizon League regular season and tournament championships and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, became the first player in Butler men’s soccer history to earn both first team All-America and first team Academic All-America honors in the same season!  He also was named the Horizon League Player of the Year, the League’s Offensive Player of the Year and the Most Valuable Player of the 2010 Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship.  He was named first team All-Horizon League and was selected to first team NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region.

The Butler midfielder led the Horizon League in assists (9) and finished second in the league in points (25).  He ranked third in the league in goals (8).

An English Literature major, Sippola boasts a 3.72 grade-point average.  He was named to the 2009 Horizon League Academic All-League Team and the 2009-10 Horizon League Academic Honor Roll.  He also was chosen to the 2010 CoSIDA Academic All-District V Team, the 2009-10 NSCAA Scholar All-North/Central Region Team and was named to the Butler Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

The Horizon League instituted the Scholar-Athlete of the Month award as a way to recognize outstanding academic and athletic achievement by its student-athletes.  To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or better (on a 4.00 scale), have completed at least one year at the member institution, passed 24 semester or 36 quarter hours and perform well during the month’s competition.  Winners are selected by the league’s faculty athletics representatives from nominations provided by sports information directors.