Big South Announces 2022 Men's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Campbell redshirt-junior midfielder
Tyler Young (Troutman, N.C.) and teammate defender
Moses Mensah (Cape Coast, Ghana) have been voted the 2022 Big South Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon by the league office. High Point redshirt-senior
Holden Trent (Greensboro, N.C.) was voted the Goalkeeper of the Year, while Panthers’ midfielder
Jefferson Amaya (Huntersville, N.C.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year. HPU head coach
Zach Haines was voted Coach of the Year, and the Big South’s sports information directors voted Longwood’s
Jonas Kalchner (Eichenau, Germany) as the Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Young repeats as Big South Offensive Player of the Year, and is just the second player in league history to win the award in back-to-back seasons. He finished the 2022 regular-season with 16 points on four goals and conference-best eight assists, and is tied for 12th nationally in assists. Ranked No. 51 on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s midseason national player ranking, Young scored a point in nine of his 18 appearances this season, including a two-goal performance at Gardner-Webb that clinched the Camels the Big South regular-season championship. He also tallied two assists in a win at Radford, and Campbell was 6-0-3 this season when we recorded a point. In the Offensive Player of the Year voting, Young received seven first-place votes and 22 points, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Aymane Sordo (one first-place vote) and High Point’s
Noah Holmes, who tied with nine points each.
Mensah is the fourth-straight Camel to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors. He led a Camel backline that allowed just 3.50 shots on goal, posted six shutouts and had the lowest goals-against average in the Big South during the regular-season at 0.89. He played every minute in 12 matches and 1,451 minutes overall. Mensah, ranked No. 33 on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s midseason national player list, was a MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List candidate, and tallied an assist against UNC Asheville and Presbyterian. In conference action, Mensah helped the Camels hold the opposition to just seven goals in eight contests. Mensah received four first-place votes and 16 points, just ahead of High Point’s
Finn McRobb (three first-place votes and 14 points) and USC Upstate’s
Felipe Marty (one first-place votes and 12 points).
Trent remains the only recipient of the Big South Goalkeeper of the Year award, as he won the first-ever honor in 2021. He started all 17 matches played in 2022 and posted six shutouts and ranked second in GAA at 1.00. A four-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree this season, Trent was ranked No. 21 on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s national player list during the year. He allowed just four goals in 720:00 minutes of action in all eight Big South matches for a 0.50 goals-against average, and recorded a .789 save percentage with four shutouts. Trent received five first-place votes and 14 points, ahead of USC Upstate’s
Luca Bulfon (14 points and two first-place votes).
Amaya is the first High Point player to earn Freshman of the Year honors since Tony Pineda in 2018. Amaya finished the regular-season with three goals and three assists for nine points -- the most points by a Big South freshman this season. He played 16 matches with 13 starts, and scored the game-winning goal in High Point’s 1-0 win over Campbell on Oct. 12. Amaya earned one Big South Freshman of the Week honor, received College Soccer News’ National Team of the Week accolades this season, and was ranked No. 7 on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Top 100 Freshman in 2022. He received seven first-place votes and 23 points, ahead of UNC Asheville’s
Sam Pitts-Eckersall (onw first-place votes and 11 points) and Campbell’s
Adrien Gameiro (seven points).
Haines earns his first Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Panthers to a 5-0-3 Big South record -- the lone Big South squad to not suffer a conference defeat in 2022. High Point finished 8-4-5 overall, which included a 2-1 win over No. 7-ranked Maryland, a 1-1 draw at No. 2 Georgetown and the only Big South squad to defeat regular-season champion Campbell (W, 1-0). The Panthers finished the regular-season second in the conference in points (82), goals (28), assists (26), fewest goals allowed (17), goals-against average (1.00) and shutouts (6). In Big South matches, HPU allowed the fewest goals (4), had the lowest GAA (0.50) and tied for the most shutouts (4), and was second in points (61), goals (20) and assists (21). Haines received four first-place votes and 16 points, ahead of USC Upstate’s
Scott Halkett (two first-place votes and 14 points) and Campbell’s
Dustin Fonder (three first-place vote and 10 points).
Kalchner carries a 4.0 GPA as an MBA student. He played all 15 matches this season for the Lancers and broke the program record for career minutes played during the year. He graduated last spring with a 3.93 grade-point average in earning his degree in Psychology.
The league also announced the 2022 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 and an seven-member all-freshman team. 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.
2022 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE MEN'S SOCCER AWARD WINNERS
First-Team All-Conference
F: Jalen James, Sr., Campbell
F: Kemy Amiche, Soph., Campbell
F: Noah Holmes, Gr., High Point
MF: Tyler Young, R-Jr., Campbell
MF: Jefferson Amaya, Fr., High Point
MF: Kyoji Hata, Sr., Campbell
MF: Sebastian Chalbaud, Sr., High Point
D: Moses Mensah, Sr., Campbell
D: Omar Boudeka, Gr., Gardner-Webb
D: Finn McRobb, Jr., High Point
D: Diego Konincks, D, Sr., Campbell
GK: Holden Trent, R-Sr., High Point
AL: Lorenzo Nagy, Jr., MF, Presbyterian
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Daniel Hernandez, Sr., Campbell
F: Nacho Gallego, Sr., Presbyterian
F: Jeremy Montero, Jr., USC Upstate
MF: Sam Pitts-Eckersall, Fr., UNC Asheville
MF: Carson Griffith, Jr., Presbyterian
MF: Tiago Lopes, Jr., Campbell
MF: Pablo Diaz, Jr., USC Upstate
D: Lalas Ayertey, Sr., High Point
D: Karson Kendell, Sr, High Point
D: Kasper Jorgenson, Fr., USC Upstate
D: Felipe Marty, Sr., USC Upstate
GK: Luca Bulfon, Sr., USC Upstate
AL: Julian Fernandez, Jr., D, USC Upstate
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Aymane Sordo, F, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Brendan Herb, MF, Jr., UNC Asheville
Andrin Zumbuhl, F, Jr., USC Upstate
Nile Nguidjol, F, Soph., Presbyterian
Sam Presser, F, R-Fr., UNC Asheville
All-Freshman Team
Jefferson Amaya, MF, High Point
Sam Pitts-Eckersall, MF, UNC Asheville
Kasper Jorgenson, D, USC Upstate
Sam Presser, F, UNC Asheville
Adrien Gameiro, MF, Campbell
Brendan Krueger, MF, High Point
Aidan Abril, MF, High Point (tie)
Leo Stritter, GK, Presbyterian (tie)
All-Academic Team
Diego Konincks, Sr., Campbell
Aymane Sordo, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Cooper Lindfelt, Jr., High Point
Jonas Kalchner, Gr., Longwood
Niklas Hoener, Jr., Presbyterian
Anthony Giannecchini, Jr., Radford
Andrew Rossetti, Sr., UNC Asheville
Luca Bulfon, Sr., USC Upstate
Ben Goodman, Sr., Winthrop
Offensive Player of the Year
Tyler Young, MF, R-Jr., Campbell
Goalkeeper of the Year
Holden Trent, R-Sr., High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Moses Mensah, D, Sr., Campbell
Freshman of the Year
Jefferson Amaya, MF, High Point
Coach of the Year
Zach Haines, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Jonas Kalchner, Gr., Longwood