Big South Announces 2024 Men's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Presbyterian College forward
Damorney Hutchinson (St. Thomas, Jamaica) and High Point’s
Jefferson Amaya (Charlotte, N.C.) have been voted the 2024 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. HPU junior
Brendan Krueger (Clearwater, Fla.) was selected the Midfielder of the Year, UNC Asheville senior
Charlie Farrar (Wakefield, United Kingdom) was voted the Goalkeeper of the Year, while High Point forward
Frankie DeFrancesco (Wayne, N.J.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year. HPU midfielder
Ross Johnstone (Kent, England) was voted Newcomer of the Year, High Point head coach
Zach Haines was voted Coach of the Year, and the Big South’s sports information directors voted Gardner-Webb’s
Giampaolo Nardi (Caracas, Venezuela) as the Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Hutchinson is the first Presbyterian player to win Big South Offensive Player of the Year honors. Last year’s Big South Newcomer of the Year, Hutchinson is the conference’s leading goal scorer this season with 11, and is tops with 24 points. He is averaging a league-best 1.85 points per game, and is among the Big South leaders in game-winning goals. Hutchinson’s six goals and 13 points in Big South action were tied for the most in the circuit. A two-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week honoree in 2024, Hutchinson was the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week after scoring two goals in wins over Coastal Carolina (Sept. 9) and VMI (Sept. 12). In the Offensive Player of the Year voting, Hutchinson received four first-place votes and 18 points, ahead of Longwood’s
Ethan Stevenson (10 points, one first-place vote) and Gardner-Webb’s
Elias Khodri (eight points and one first-place vote).
Amaya is the first player to win Big South Defensive Player of the Years after being voted the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year previously. In 2024, he started 14 games and played center-back as a major contributor in High Point allowing just 12 goals all year while recording six shutouts. Amaya was No. 75 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 100 Midseason Players to Watch list and was named the Oct. 7 Big South Defensive Player of the Week. He received four first-place votes and 15 points, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Leo Andrade (two first-place votes) and Winthrop’s
Emory Chrichlow (one first-place vote), who tied with 10 points each.
Krueger is the first Big South Men’s Soccer Midfielder of the Year recipient, as the honor was added to the award’s program prior to this season. After an injury kept him out most of last year, he was one of four Panthers to start all 15 games in 2024. Krueger scored a team-leading six goals along with a Big South-best eight assists for 20 points in 1,170 minutes on the pitch. Six of his eight assists came in conference action. Krueger, who was rated No. 79 on TopDrawerSoccer’s Top 100 Midseason Players to Watch, collected six first-place votes and 18 points, ahead of Presbyterian’s
Carson Griffith (nine points), and UNC Asheville’s
Brendan Herb (eight points and two first-place votes).
Farrar repeats as the Big South Goalkeeper of the Year, and is the second multiple winner of the award in league history. Farrar played to a 7-3-4 record in 14 starts this season, ranking second in the league in minutes at 1222:10. He leads the Big South Conference in both goals against average (0.74) and save percentage (.815), while also ranking fifth in saves with 44. He also leads the league in shutouts (five) as Asheville posted a Division I era program record with six shutouts on the season. Farrar was named Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week four times this season, becoming the first Big South Men’s Soccer player to earn four consecutive weekly honors in a single year and the first Big South Men’s Soccer player to earn five weekly honors in a row, dating back to last season. Farrar received five first-place votes and 20 points, ahead of High Point’s
Josh Caron (10 points and one first-place votes) and Winthrop’s
Jack Kilstrom (seven points).
DeFrancesco is High Point’s second Freshman of the Year honoree in three seasons. He played all 15 regular-season games with 13 starts, and tallied four goals and three assists for 11 points. DeFrancesco scored a goal in his first collegiate game at N.C. State, and notched the Panthers’ lone goal in HPU’s 1-0 upset at No. 1 Pittsburgh. A three-time Big South Freshman of the Week selection as well as the conference’s Oct. 21 Offensive Player of the Week, DeFrancesco was rated No. 30 on the TopDrawerSoccer.cm Top 100 Freshman list. He received five first-place votes and 16 points in Freshman of the Year voting, ahead of Presbyterian’s
Morgan Dance (one first-place vote and 12 points) and USC Upstate’s
Liam Duggan (one first-place vote and seven points).
Johnstone earned the Big South Men’s Soccer Newcomer of the Year, which recognizes the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. In his first season with the Panthers, he started all 15 games and scored five goals and 10 points in 1,195 minutes of action. The Sept. 3 Big South Offensive Player of the Week, Johnstone scored three of his five goals during conference play. He collected two first-place votes and 13 points, just ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Lucas Mauro (three first-place votes) and Longwood’s
Aaron Asamoah (two first-place votes), who tied with 11 points each.
Haines earns his third consecutive Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Panthers to a 6-1-0 Big South record and 10-3-2 overall mark. The Panthers have been nationally-ranked since Oct. 7, reaching as high as No. 2 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com poll and No. 11 in the United Soccer Coaches ranking. HPU defeated two nationally-ranked squads during the regular-season -- including then-No. 1 Pittsburgh, 1-0, on Oct. 14, and won 10 consecutive matches from Sept. 11-Oct. 26. The Panthers finished the Big South season first in goals (19), goals per game (2.71), assists (18), points (56), fewest goals allowed (5) and goals against average (0.71). Haines received four first-place votes and 15 points, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Scott Wells (two first-place votes and 10 points) and UNC Asheville’s
Mick Giordano (nine points).
Nardi carries a 3.975 GPA studying Economics/Finance. He had a goal and assist during the regular-season, and played all 16 matches with 14 starts while logging 1,275 minutes for the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
The league also announced the 2024 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Tuesday, 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 a 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.
2024 Big South Conference Men’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F – Damorney Hutchinson, Sr., Presbyterian College
F – Elias Khodri, Jr., Gardner-Webb
F – Ethan Stevenson, Sr., Longwood
MF – Brendan Krueger, Jr., High Point
MF – Ross Johnstone, Sr., High Point
MF – Carson Griffith, R-Sr., Presbyterian College
MF – Aaron Asamoah, Jr., Longwood
D – Jefferson Amaya, Jr., High Point
D – Leo Andrade, Jr., Gardner-Webb
D – Max Fisher, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D – Mohammed Seidu, Sr., High Point
GK - Charlie Farrar, Sr., UNC Asheville
AL – Rodrigo Ferreria, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Second-Team All-Conference
F – Alfred Baafi, Soph., High Point
F – Frankie DeFrancesco, Fr., High Point
F – Lucas Mauro, Gr., Gardner-Webb
MF – Brendan Herb, Sr., UNC Asheville
MF – Steven Cordova, Jr., Presbyterian College
MF – Edvin Grolimund, Sr., UNC Asheville
MF – Giampaolo Nardi, Jr., Gardner-Webb
D – Breno Correia, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D – Myles Edmondson, Sr., UNC Asheville
D – Lukas Kamrath, R-Fr., High Point
D – Benian Yao, Sr., UNC Asheville
GK – Josh Caron, R-Soph., High Point
AL – Caio Hughes, MF, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Emory Crichlow, D, Soph., Winthrop
Beau Yantz, D, Jr., High Point
Morgan Dance, MF, Fr., Presbyterian College
Carson Hickok, D, Sr., USC Upstate
Jan Maldonado, MF, Sr., Radford
All-Freshman Team
Frankie DeFrancesco, F, Fr., High Point
Lukas Kamrath, D, R-Fr., High Point
Morgan Dance, MF, Fr., Presbyterian College
Jesper Vikman, D, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Liam Duggan, MF, Fr., USC Upstate
Brando Bedolla, F, Fr., Longwood
Ryan Armijo, MF, Fr., Winthrop
All-Academic Team
Giampaolo Nardi, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Josh Caron, GK, R-Soph., High Point
Max Hinke, GK, Jr., Longwood
Carson Griffith, MF, R-Sr., Presbyterian College
Alex Eydelman, GK, Sr., Radford
Heath Flathau, D/MF, Sr., UNC Asheville
Cooper Jennings, GK, R-Soph., USC Upstate
Diego Candia, D, Sr., Winthrop
Offensive Player of the Year
Damorney Hutchinson, Sr., F, Presbyterian College
Midfielder of the Year
Brendan Krueger, Jr., High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Jefferson Amaya, Jr., High Point
Goalkeeper of the Year
Charlie Farrar, Sr., UNC Asheville
Freshman of the Year
Frankie DeFrancesco, F, High Point
Newcomer of the Year
Ross Johnstone, Sr., MF, High Point
Coach of the Year
Zach Haines, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Giampaolo Nardi, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb