Men's Soccer

Virginia’s Pelà Leads 2025 All-ACC Academic Men’s Soccer Team

2025 All-ACC Academic Team
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Virginia senior midfielder Umberto Pelà was selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2025 Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year and leads the 2025 All-ACC Academic Men’s Soccer Team, which was announced Thursday by the league office.
 
A native of Milan, Italy, Pela was named to the 2025 Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Third Team, as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC), becoming the third Academic All-American in program history. He also was tabbed as a first-team Scholar All-American.
 
A second-team All-America and second-team All-ACC selection, Pelà made 17 starts in as many appearances while recording single-season career high totals with four goals and five assists for a total of 18 points. A two-year captain at central midfield, Pelà helped lead the Cavaliers to the ACC championship game and the second top-four NCAA seed in the last four seasons.
 
Following the season, he was selected in the second round at No. 44 overall in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas.
 
A total of 130 student-athletes earned spots on the men’s soccer All-ACC Academic Team. All 15 ACC programs are represented, with Louisville leading the way with 13 honorees. Notre Dame, SMU and Stanford each had 11 honorees.
 
The ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were established in September of 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the awards must have maintained a 3.0-grade point average for their careers, as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters.
 
Academic requirements for selection to the All-ACC Academic Team include a 3.0-grade point average for the previous two semesters and 3.0 cumulative average during one’s academic career, while being enrolled at the institution for at least one year and being classified as an undergraduate student. In addition, student-athletes must compete in at least 50 percent of their team’s athletic contests.
 
The full All-ACC Academic Team is available HERE.