Jan. 8, 2003

WOODLAND, Calif. - Four UNLV men's soccer players were named to the 2002 Academic All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Team as announced by the conference office Wednesday.

Senior defender Tuomas Talvio (Helsinki, Finland), topped the list for the Rebels with an impressive 3.87 grade-point average in finance, his third consecutive selection to the academic elite. Last year, he was named UNLV's top male student-athlete as a junior.

Fellow senior Ben Hooker (Victoria, British Columbia), also a three-time honoree, followed with a 3.51 GPA in hotel administration, while sophomores Brendon Bain (Beaverton, Ore.) and Kristian Paananen (Espoo, Finland) made their first appearance on the academic all-conference team. Bain holds a 3.22 GPA in marketing and Paananen a 3.02 GPA in international business.

Student-athletes were named to the team based on having a 3.0 or better cumulative grade-point average, for being at least a sophomore academically, having completed one full academic year at the member institution and having competed in 50 percent or more of the institution's competition in the sport.

2002 ACADEMIC ALL-MPSF TEAMBrendon Bain (So.), Midfielder, 3.22 GPA, MarketingBen Hooker (Sr.), Defender, 3.51 GPA, Hotel AdministrationKristian Paananen (So.), Defender, 3.02 GPA, International BusinessTuomas Talvio (Sr.), Forward, 3.87 GPA, Finance