TROY, N.Y. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete Steven Collins has been selected to the 2016 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Men's Soccer Academic All-America Division III First Team. He becomes the Engineers' fifth first team honoree since 2005.

A junior captain from Flemington, N.J, Collins has started all 17 games for the Engineers at both holding midfield and striker positions. Third on the team with five points (2 goals, 1 assist), he has 21 shots (7 on goal) and averages 74.3 minutes per match.

Now a two-time all-district selection, Collins is a chemical engineering major and economics minor with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average. A two-time Liberty League All-Academic selection, he has worked as a research assistant in the Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing labs. A member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, he has worked with Circle-K as a volunteer and is the Scholarship Chair at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. 

Starting all 18 games last year, Collins tallied a goal and an assist with eight shots (3 on goal). He has helped the Engineers, who were nationally-ranked for much of the season, to an 11-4-3 record and eight shutouts. He played 13 games as a freshman, scoring one goal for RPI, which was 12-4-3 and played in the Liberty League Finals.

Collins, who was a standout at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, has played in 51 career games at Rensselaer, including 38 as a starter. He has four goals and two assists for 10 point, with 35 shots, including 12 on target.

Rensselaer (8-6-3; 5-2-1 Liberty League) has won five straight games and closes out its regular season schedule on Saturday, when it hosts Saint Thomas Aquinas at East Campus Stadium (1pm).