Big South Announces 2025 Men's Soccer Preseason Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the third consecutive year,
High Point University has been voted the favorite in the annual Big South Conference men’s soccer preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. In addition, the coaches voted High Point’s
Brendan Krueger (Clearwater, Fla.) the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, HPU’s
Jefferson Amaya (Charlotte, N.C.) the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, Gardner-Webb’s
Leo Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and GWU’s
Alan Horrocks (Merlo, San Luis, Argentina) and High Point’s
Josh Caron (Palm Harbor, Fla.) the Preseason Co-Goalkeeper of the Year.
High Point, which is 30-1-7 in Big South matches since 2019 and the two-time defending regular-season champion, received six of the eight first-place votes cast and 62 total points in the polling. The Panthers, under the direction of seventh-year head coach
Zach Haines, returns eight starters and 21 players from last year’s squad that was nationally-ranked and defeated then-No. 1 Pittsburgh in October.
Gardner-Webb, the 2024 Big South Champion, was second in the voting with 55 points and received the two remaining first-place votes.
Longwood (41 points) was third in the balloting, while
UNC Asheville collected 35 points to finish fourth in the poll.
USC Upstate landed in the fifth position with 33 points, followed by
Presbyterian College in sixth (29 points).
Winthrop was voted seventh (22 points), while
Radford finished in the final spot with 11 points.
Krueger was last year’s Big South Midfielder of the Year and earned First-Team All-Conference accolades. Named to the United Soccer Coaches (USC) National Players to Watch List ahead of the 2025 campaign, Krueger started all 17 games last season and recorded a team-leading 20 points behind a career-best six goals and eight assists. He logged a career-high 1,343 minutes and scored his first collegiate game-winning goal in his first four-point match, where he netted a goal and dished out two assists against Longwood on Oct. 11. Six of his eight assists came in conference action, and he was rated No. 79 on TopDrawerSoccer’s Top 100 Midseason Players to Watch a season ago. Krueger collected six first-place votes and 20 points in the preseason voting, ahead of Longwood’s
Brando Bedolla (10 points and one first-place vote).
Amaya repeats as the Preseason Midfielder of the Year honoree, as the award was added ahead of the 2024 season. He is the reigning Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Year after being named Big South Offensive Player in 2023, as well as Big South Freshman of the Year in 2022. He is the only Big South student-athlete to win all three awards in three consecutive years. The three-time USC All-Region player is coming off a 2024 season where he played two different positions and impacted the field in all phases. Amaya started in all 16 games he played, helping the Panthers to seven shutouts and just 14 goals allowed. The 6-foot-1 defensive midfielder scored three goals and dished out six assists while converting his one penalty kick attempt. Named to the USC National Players to Watch List ahead of the 2025 season, Amaya received three first-place votes and 16 points in the preseason Midfielder of the Year voting, ahead of Longwood’s
Aaron Asamoah (12 points and three first-place votes) and Presbyterian’s
Steven Cordova (10 points and one first-place vote).
Andrade, named to the 2024 Big South All-Tournament Team, was a First-Team All-Big South honoree last season as he started all 19 matches he played. He tied for second on the squad with four goals scored and finished with nine points overall while logging the second-most minutes with 1,626. Andrade tallied a goal and assist in Conference play, and scored the opening goal in Gardner-Webb’s 2-1, Big South Championship victory over High Point. In the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year balloting, Andrade received 12 points and five first-place votes, ahead of High Point’s
Lukas Kamrath (eight points and three first-place votes).
Horrocks and Caron each received three first-place votes and nine total points in the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year balloting. Horrocks posted a 13-3-3 record in net last season for the Runnin’ Bulldogs, and compiled six shutouts, 55 saves, a .714 save percentage and 1.12 GAA in 1686:46 minutes. The Nov. 4 Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree allowed just five goals in seven Big South matches, good for a 0.71 GAA, .783 save percentage, and a 5-0-2 mark with three blank sheets. Caron is a two-time All-Conference selection and was a Second-Team honoree in 2024 after starting in 12 games and combining for five shutouts. He surrendered just 11 goals and had a 0.93 goals against average with 31 saves on 102 shots faced in 1066:47 minutes. Caron allowed just two goals in 346:47 minutes of Big South action (four appearances) for a 0.52 GAA along with an .800 save percentage. Winthrop’s
Jack Kilstrom received six points (two first-place votes) in the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year voting.
The 2025 Big South men’s soccer season begins Thursday, Aug. 21, while Conference play opens the weekend of Sept. 19-20. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the 2025 Big South Men’s Soccer Championship, which is scheduled for Nov. 5 (First Round), Nov. 9 (Semifinals) and Nov. 15 (Championship Final), with every match to be contested at the home site of the higher seed. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2025 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON MEN’S SOCCER HONORS
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Brendan Krueger, High Point
Preseason Midfielder of the Year: Jefferson Amaya, High Point
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Leo Andrade, Gardner-Webb
Preseason Co-Goalkeeper of the Year: Alan Horrocks, Gardner-Webb & Josh Caron, High Point
2025 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON MEN’S SOCCER POLL
| RK - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (6) |
62 |
| 2 - Gardner-Webb (2) |
55 |
| 3 - Longwood |
41 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
35 |
| 5 - USC Upstate |
33 |
| 6 - Presbyterian College |
29 |
| 7 - Winthrop |
22 |
| 8 - Radford |
11 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 8 points, followed by 7 points for second-place, and so on.