Big South Announces 2025 Men's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point forward
Daniel Lugo (St. Petersburg, Fla.) has been voted the 2025 Big South Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon by the league office. The panel also voted HPU’s
Jefferson Amaya (Charlotte, N.C.) the Midfielder of the Year, High Point’s
Lukas Kamrath (Tampa, Fla.) the Defensive Player of the Year, Panthers’ forward
Prosper Adagani (Techiman, Ghana) as Freshman of the Year, and
High Point as the Coaching Staff of the Year. HPU’s
Josh Caron (Palm Harbor, Fla.) was voted Goalkeeper of the Year by the coaches and Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s men’s soccer communications contacts. High Point is the first Big South member to sweep all eight major annual awards.
Lugo has had a stellar beginning to his career in Purple & White this season, as he has started all 16 games while scoring a league-best 12 goals -- with five being game-winning scores -- and assisting on three for a team and conference-leading 27 points in 948 minutes. The redshirt sophomore forward netted his first collegiate goals in the season opener against No. 14/25 Georgetown and has scored in 10 total games. Lugo, who was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List, has two braces and is one of the best goal scorers in the country, as he ranks sixth in NCAA Division I with his 12 goals. A two-time Offensive Player of the Week recipient, Lugo was ranked No. 31 on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Midseason Top 100 Players. He is the fourth Panther to earn Big South Offensive Player of the Year and first since Amaya in 2023.
Amaya has made his mark at High Point and in the annals of Big South Conference men’s soccer, as he has won a major award each season he’s laced up. The four-year program changer, who won Big South Freshman of the Year in 2022, Big South Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 and Big South Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, now becomes the Big South Midfielder of the Year as he is the first player in conference history to ever win a different major award in four consecutive seasons. Amaya has continually been an anchor for the Panthers, starting in all 16 games while logging 1198 minutes and scoring three goals -- one being a game-winner -- and assisting on four scores with one multi-assist match versus nationally-ranked Marshall. Amaya is the second Panther to win Big South Midfielder of the Year in the award’s two years of existence.
Kamrath has started all 16 games and logged a full 90 minutes in all but two matches this season for 1,403 total minutes. The redshirt-sophomore defender has contributed to eight team clean sheets and a 0.69 goals against average tally, while scoring three goals -- with one being against 10th-ranked Marshall as he also had a header save that earned the No. 9 spot on the SC Top-10 plays on SportsCenter. A two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree in 2025, Kamrath is the fourth overall and third-straight Panther to earn Big South Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Adagani has been a speedy threat all season as he has appeared in all 16 games with two starts. The Ghanian forward has scored six goals – including two matches with a brace -- while assisting on one and netting a pair of game-winning scores in just 592 minutes. A two-time Big South Freshman of the Week selection this year, he is the seventh Panther to earn Big South Freshman of the Year and the second in a row.
Caron has started all 16 games and has seven complete shutouts among eight combined clean sheets, in addition to an 11-1-4 record, 0.696 GAA and .828 save percentage with 53 saves in 1,422 minutes played. He is 19th in all of NCAA Division I in goals against average, and in seven Big South matches, allowed only one goal in 612 minutes for a miniscule 0.15 GAA with five shutouts. In the classroom, Caron has maintained nearly a 4.0 GPA while studying finance to become the first Panther named Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year since 2023.
Led by Head Coach
Zach Haines, the High Point coaching staff is the first to be voted Big South Coaching Staff of the Year, an award that previously recognized head coaches only. Joined by
Josh Gillon (Associate Head Coach) and assistants
Mason Marcey and
Toney Anderson, the staff led High Point to its third consecutive Big South Conference Regular-Season Championship with a perfect 7-0-0 league record. The Panthers knocked off nationally-ranked Georgetown in the season opener and tied two other ranked programs (Marshall and West Virginia), and were ranked as high as No. 5 this season. Entering the conference championship ranked No. 10 in the country, High Point finished the regular-season with 37 goals (2.31 per game), 38 assists (2.38), and a 0.69 goals-against average, and posted a 22-to-1 goal differential against Big South opponents.
The league also announced the 2025 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 men’s soccer communications contacts.
2025 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F – Daniel Lugo, R-Soph., High Point
F – Samson Kpardeh, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F – Oskar Kaufmann, Soph., USC Upstate
MF – Jefferson Amaya, Sr., High Point
MF – Brendan Krueger, Sr., High Point
MF – Tiago Campos, Jr., Gardner-Webb
MF – Steven Cordova, Sr., Presbyterian College
D – Lukas Kamrath, R-Soph., High Point
D – Breno Correia, Jr., Gardner-Webb
D – Beau Yantz, Sr., High Point
D – Leo Andrade, Sr., Gardner-Webb
GK – Josh Caron, R-Jr., High Point
AL – Lennart Granzow, D, Jr., UNC Asheville
Second-Team All-Conference
F – Rodrigo Mendes, Sr., UNC Asheville
F – Vitalis Takawira, Sr., USC Upstate
F – Brando Bedolla, Soph., Longwood
MF – Robbie Lyons, Gr., Gardner-Webb
MF – Jorhan Chopin, Sr., USC Upstate
MF – Oscar Kelly, Fr., USC Upstate
MF – Aaron Asamoah, Sr., Longwood
D – Ewan Tomas, Soph., USC Upstate
D – Benian Yao, 5th, UNC Asheville
D – Lucas Christensen, Gr., Gardner-Webb
D – Viðar Ragnarsson, Sr., UNC Asheville
GK – Alan Horrocks, Sr., Gardner-Webb
AL – Tim Baerwalde, GK, Sr., Presbyterian College
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Kenshin Akimoto, F, Jr., Radford
Jaylen Orr, F, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Joshua Yoder, D, Sr., Longwood
Benjamin Ferrero, D, Fr., Longwood
Iragi Kalala, MF, Sr., Presbyterian
All-Freshman Team
Prosper Adagani, F, Fr., High Point
Javan Omondi Ochieng, F, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Roman Holt, D, R-Fr., High Point
Pius Seesubulime, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Lucca Barros, GK, Fr., UNC Asheville
Oscar Kelly, MF, Fr., USC Upstate
Desmond Mensah, D, Fr., High Point
Benjamin Ferrero, D, Fr., Longwood
All-Academic Team
Jaylen Orr, F, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Josh Caron, GK, R-Jr., High Point
David Ambaek, D, Sr., Longwood
Rivers Krask, D, R-Jr., Presbyterian
Tyler Pulik, D, Sr., Radford
Lennart Granzow, Jr., D., UNC Asheville
Jorhan Chopin, MF, Sr., USC Upstate
Bernardo Pacheco, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Offensive Player of the Year
Daniel Lugo, F, R-Soph., High Point
Midfielder of the Year
Jefferson Amaya, Sr., High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Lukas Kamrath, R-Soph., High Point
Goalkeeper of the Year
Josh Caron, R-Jr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Prosper Adagani, F, High Point
Newcomer of the Year
Daniel Lugo, F, R-Soph., High Point
Coaching Staff of the Year
High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Josh Caron, GK, R-Jr., High Point