Big South Announces 2018 Men's Soccer Annual Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point junior forward Ilias Kosmidis (Thessaloniki, Greece) and teammate defender Johnny Fenwick (Newcastle upon Tyne, England) have been voted the 2018 Big South Men’s Soccer Attacking Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced this morning by the league office. Radford forward Amadou Macky Diop (Dakar, Senegal) and High Point midfielder Tony Pineda (Statesville, N.C.) shared Freshman of the Year honors, while HPU head coach E.J. O’Keeffe repeated as Coach of the Year. In addition, the Big South’s sports information directors voted Campbell junior Gideon Betz as the men’s soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Kosmidis is the first Panther to win the conference’s Attacking Player of the Year honor since the award’s inception in 2010. He led the Big South with 10 goals scored during the regular-season, and tied for the league-lead with 23 points. Kosmidis was also tops in the conference with five game-winning goals, and recorded a point in 10 of his 16 appearances. Among the country’s Top 25 in goals and points, Kosmidis was a three-time Attacking Player of the Week honoree in 2018, was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week on Sept. 30, and scored HPU’s goal in the Panthers’ 1-0 win at nationally-ranked Duke. In Big South matches, Kosmidis scored five goals, recorded 10 points and tied for the top spot in the conference with three game-winning scores. In the Attacking Player of the Year voting, he finished with four first-place votes and 19 points. Campbell’s JJ Donnelly was second with 14 points (three first-place votes), followed by Diop (13 points and two first-place votes).
Fenwick is the second consecutive Panther to win Big South Defensive Player of the Year honors. Just the 24th men’s soccer player in Big South history to be voted All-Conference all four years, Fenwick did not miss a single minute on the pitch this season (1,508 minutes played) while helping the Panthers to a conference-best 0.95 goals-against average and league-high six shutouts. Fenwick was part of a backline that allowed just five goals in eight Big South matches, as High Point posted a 0.58 goals against average against league foes with three clean sheets. The Panther defense surrendered just 4.0 shots on goal per game in 2018. Fenwick received all eight possible first-place votes and 24 points, ahead of Campbell’s Betz (11 points) and Presbyterian’s Luca Ziegler (10 points).
Diop tied for the Big South scoring lead with 23 points, and was tops with 1.77 points per game and goals per game with 0.69. His nine scores were second overall and included the game-winner against nationally-ranked Charlotte. Diop was a three-time Big South Attacking Player of the Week honoree, and tied for sixth among the league leaders in conference matches with four goals while ranking fifth with 11 points.
Pineda was named Big South Freshman of the Week four times in 2018, and was a College Soccer News National Team of the Week honoree in September. He was third overall with 19 points, tied for third with seven goals and tied for fifth with five assists. Four of his seven goals came in conference play, including an overtime game-winner against UNC Asheville. Pineda produced 12 points in his last seven outings to close out the regular-season.
Diop (four first-place votes) and Pineda (three first-place votes) tied with 18 points in the Freshman of the Year voting. Presbyterian’s Marcos Kitromilides was third with 12 points (two first-place votes).
O’Keeffe is the first back-to-back Big South Coach of the Year winner since 2011-12. He directed the Panthers to an unbeaten record in conference matches at 7-0-1 and the outright regular-season championship for the second consecutive year. High Point also entered the national rankings in 2018 and currently sits as high as No. 14 with a 13-2-1 overall record -- tied for the second-most wins in its Division I history. HPU’s 84.4 winning percentage is its highest since moving to Division I in 1999, and featured wins over nationally-ranked Duke, as well as Wofford, Davidson and UNC Greensboro. High Point, which is currently No. 22 in the NCAA RPI, trailed in its eight conference matches for just 82 minutes, and posted three shutouts and a 0.58 GAA against league foes. O’Keeffe’s squad was first in the league in overall goals per game (1.88) and fewest goals allowed (16). He collected six first-place votes and 21 points in the voting, ahead of Presbyterian’s Jonathan Potter (14 points and two first-place votes) and Radford’s Bryheem Hancock (nine points and one first-place vote).
Betz is a 4.00 student in Business Administration and also earned First-Team All-Conference honors for the second-straight year. A two-time Big South Presidential Honor Roll member, he has started every game of his career, and finished the 2018 regular-season with two goals and an assist.
The league also announced the 2018 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Friday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features six forwards, four midfielders, four defenders, one goalkeeper and one at-large spot on each team, plus five honorable mention honorees regardless of position. The All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the Big South’s sports information directors.
2018 Big South Conference Men’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Ilias Kosmidis, Jr., High Point
F: Amadou Macky Diop, Fr., Radford
F: JJ Donnelly, Sr., Campbell
MF: Tony Pineda, Fr., High Point
MF: Ryan Inman, Jr., High Point
MF: Jordan Barbara, Soph., Presbyterian
MF: Oskar Wang, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D: Johnny Fenwick, Sr., High Point
D: Rashid Tetteh, Sr., High Point
D: Gideon Betz, Jr., Campbell
D: Michael Barrow, Soph., Campbell
GK: Keegan Meyer, Jr., High Point
AL: Kieran Roberts, R-Sr., Radford
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Willie Miezan, R-Sr., Longwood
F: Marcos Kitromilides, Fr., Presbyterian
F: Jack Hoey, Sr., Gardner-Webb
MF: Ian Rees, Jr., Campbell
MF: Cam Philpot, Sr., USC Upstate
MF: Jonathan Bolanos, Jr., High Point
MF: Josh Hanratty, Sr., Longwood
D: Myles Yorke, Sr., Radford
D: Simen Olsen, Jr., Gardner-Webb
D: Nick Phipps, Soph., High Point
D: Luca Ziegler, Soph., Presbyterian
GK: Jan Hoffelner, Soph., Presbyterian
AL: Victor Valls, Jr., Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Siggi Benonysson, F, Jr., High Point
Sergio Pinto, MF, Jr., Presbyterian
Thibaut Jacquel, MF/F, Soph., Campbell
Victor Menudier, D., Soph., Presbyterian
Markus Gronli, MF, Fr., Longwood
All-Freshman Team
Amadou Macky Diop, F, Fr., Radford
Tony Pineda, MF, Fr., High Point
Marcos Kitromilides, F, Fr., Presbyterian
Matt Lock, MF/F, Fr., Campbell
Lalas Ayertey, MF, Fr., High Point
Markus Gronli, MF, Fr., Longwood
Ben Morrison, D, Fr., Campbell
Jeremy Jaquier, MF, Fr., Longwood
Andrea Bonavia, GK, Fr., USC Upstate
Sam Farrell, GK, Fr., Radford
Thure Ilgner, D, Fr., Radford
All-Academic Team
Gideon Betz, D, Jr., Campbell
Petter Johansen, MF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Daniel Shahim, MF, Soph., High Point
Chase Quinn, D, Jr., Longwood
Ricardo Hernandez, MF, Jr., Presbyterian College
Benjamin Thiss, D, Sr., Radford
Joe LaCasto, MF, Sr., UNC Asheville
Cam Philpot, MF, Sr., USC Upstate
Leif Estevez, MF/F, Jr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Ilias Kosmidis, F, Jr., High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Johnny Fenwick, D, Sr., High Point
Co-Freshman of the Year
Amadou Macky Diop, F, Fr., Radford
Tony Pineda, MF, Fr., High Point
Coach of the Year
E.J. O’Keeffe, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Gideon Betz, D, Jr., Campbell