Big South Announces 2019 Men's Soccer Annual Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Campbell junior forward
Thibaut Jacquel (Sarrebourg, France) and teammate defender
Gideon Betz (Schluchtern, Germany) have been voted the 2019 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 today by the league office. Betz was also named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, voted on by the Big South’s sports information directors, while Campbell defender
Moses Mensah (Cape Coast, Ghana) claimed Freshman of the Year honors. Camels’ Head Coach
Dustin Fonder earned the Big South Coach of the Year award.
Jacquel is the first Camel to win the conference’s Attacking Player of the Year honor since 2015. He leads the Big South and ranks third nationally with 15 goals scored and 35 points during the regular-season. Jacquel also ranks fifth nationally in game-winning goals with five, seventh in goals per game (0.88) and ninth in points per game (2.06). The striker posted five multi-goal matches in 2019, headlined by a hat trick in Campbell’s 6-2 road victory at Presbyterian College on Oct. 12. He tallied eight goals and 21 points in league contests. During the season, he was named Big South Attacking Player of the Year on two occasions. Jacquel received all eight possible first-place votes and 24 points. High Point’s
Ilias Kosmidis was second with 13 points, followed by Gardner-Webb’s
Oskar Wang and Winthrop’s
Jordan Walshaw who finished with seven points apiece.
Betz is the first CU player to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year since its inception in 2011. The senior was a major component to a Camel backline that posted nine shutouts and allowed just six goals during the conference slate. He was named Big South Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions and is now the 25th player to be selected to the all-conference team in four straight seasons. Betz received seven first-place votes and 21 points, ahead of High Point’s
Keegan Meyer (15 points) and UNC Asheville’s
Jarrett Payne (seven points, one first-place vote).
Mensah becomes the first Camel since teammate
Alemu Mercer-Miko in 2017 to win the conference’s Freshman of the Year honor. The freshman started at the left back position in all eight Big South contests to lead Campbell to its first unbeaten Big South record since 1984. The Camel backline ranks 14th nationally in goals-against average (0.69) and enters the postseason having allowed just six league goals. Mensah scored his first collegiate goal in Campbell’s home victory over UNC Asheville on Oct. 19. Mensah received six first-place votes and 22 points, ahead of High Point’s Jordan Lonchar (15 points, one first-place vote) and
Payne (eight points, two first-place votes).
Fonder earns his third Big South Coach of the Year award – and his first at Campbell University. Fonder led the Camels to a perfect 8-0 record in the conference and closed out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 1-1 draw against nationally-ranked North Carolina. As a team, Campbell ranks third in total goals (49) and in total points (137), while ranking fourth in scoring offense (2.72). He collected seven first-place votes and 22 points in the voting, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Tony Setzer (12 points and two first-place votes).
Betz is now a two-time Scholar-Athlete of the Year after winning the award in 2018. The senior athletically finished his undergrad with a 3.79 GPA in business administration and is currently pursuing an MBA. A three-time Big South Presidential Honor Roll member, he has started every game of his career, and is a finalist for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award.
The league also announced the 2019 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Friday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features three 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.
2019 Big South Conference Men’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Thibaut Jacquel, Jr., Campbell
F: Ilias Kosmidis, Sr., High Point
F: Pol Monells, Jr., USC Upstate
MF: Ian Rees, Sr., Campbell
MF: Jonathan Bolanos, Sr., High Point
MF: Oskar Wang, Jr., Gardner-Webb
MF: Ryan Inman, Sr., High Point
D: Gideon Betz, Sr., Campbell
D: Franck Momo, So., Campbell
D: Moses Mensah, Fr., Campbell
D: Cesar Sancho, R-Fr., Presbyterian College
GK: Keegan Meyer, R-Sr., High Point
AL: Bissafi Dotte, Fr., D, Campbell
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Abel Gebrekiros, Jr., Gardner-Webb
F: Jordan Walshaw, Sr., Winthrop
F: Pedro Benito, So., Gardner-Webb
MF: Jordan Lonchar, Fr., High Point
MF: Matt Lock, So., Campbell
MF: Sergio Pinto, Sr., Presbyterian College
MF: Marc Carreras, Sr., Winthrop
D: Laurits Lillemose, Fr., Gardner-Webb
D: Luca Ziegler, Jr., Presbyterian College
D: Jonas Kalchner, So., Longwood
D: Octavio Ocampo, Fr., Radford
GK: Sam Lechuga, Jr., GK, Campbell
AL: Victor Valls, R-Sr., MF, Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Alemu Mercer-Miko, Jr., MF, Campbell
Alessandro Sobacci, So., D, High Point
Adrian Edo Martin, Jr., MF, Presbyterian College
Nick Phipps, Jr., D, High Point
Jarrett Payne, Fr., UNC Asheville
All-Freshman Team
Moses Mensah, D, Campbell
Jordan Lonchar, MF, High Point
Jalen James, MF, Campbell
Mouhameth Thiam, MF, Radford
Adrian Morales, F, Campbell
Cesar Sancho, D, Presbyterian College
Bissafi Dotte D, Campbell
Karson Kendall, D, High Point
Laurits Lillemose, D, Gardner-Webb
Octavio Ocampo, D, Radford
Jarrett Payne, GK, UNC Asheville
All-Academic Team
Gideon Betz, D, Sr., Campbell
Petter Johansen, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Nick Phipps, D, Jr., High Point
Jonas Kalchner, D, Soph., Longwood
Ricardo Hernandez, MF, Sr., Presbyterian College
Jacob Wilkinson, D, Sr., Radford
Kyle Adams, D, Sr., UNC Asheville
Joel Bunting, MF, Sr., USC Upstate
Leif Estevez, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Thibaut Jacquel, Jr., F, Campbell
Defensive Player of the Year
Gideon Betz, Sr., D, Campbell
Freshman of the Year
Moses Mensah, D, Campbell
Coach of the Year
Dustin Fonder, Campbell
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Gideon Betz, D, Sr., Campbell