UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; November 21, 2006 - Two cornerstones of the 2006 Penn State defense, sophomore back Ryan Badaracco (Wexford, Pa.) and junior goalkeeper Conrad Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) have been selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America? Third Team in recognition of excellence achieved both on the soccer field and in the classroom.

Badaracco, a finance major, and Taylor, a kinesiology major, maintain impressive grade point averages in their chosen field of study, continuing the Penn State men's soccer tradition of academic distinction. In total, Nittany Lions have been named to academic all-region or all-America teams on 26 occasions. For Taylor, the All-America honor is his second consecutive after earning second team accolades last year as a sophomore.

Ryan Badaracco was a mainstay on the Penn State back line throughout the 2006 season. Avoiding a plague of injuries that decimated the team's ranks, Badaracco stood as one of just three Nittany Lions to start all 20 games. He scored the first goal of his collegiate career in Penn State's thrilling 2-1 double overtime victory over Northwestern at the 2006 Big Ten Championship, securing him a spot on the all-tournament team. Badaracco was also Penn State's 2006 recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, an honor bestowed on one player from each team in the conferene who best reflects the principles of sportsmanship and fair play established by the Big Ten.

Conrad Taylor was a pillar of strength and consistency in 2006, as he has been throughout his Penn State career. He has started every game of his collegiate career, a streak of 64 consecutive contests. Taylor has not missed a minute of playing time since earning a spot in the starting line-up in the first game of his freshman year, a total of over 6,143 minutes. With 21 career shutouts, Taylor currently sits in third place on Penn State's career shutouts list, just 7.25 behind all-time leader Greg Kenney.