Big South Announces 2026 Men's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point forward
Daniel Lugo (St. Petersburg, Fla.) has been voted the 2026 Big South Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon by the league office. The coaches also voted Radford’s
Noel Zimbeva (Harare, Zimbabwe) the Midfielder of the Year, High Point’s
Noah Behrmann (Charlotte, N.C.) the Defensive Player of the Year, Panthers’ forward
Nick Sarantakos (Williamsburg, Va.) as Freshman of the Year, Gardner-Webb forward
Tim Kreuzpeintner (Offenburg, Germany) the Newcomer of the Year, and
High Point as the Coaching Staff of the Year. HPU’s
Josh Caron (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and UNC Asheville’s
Lucca Barros (Mint Hill, N.C.) were voted Co-Goalkeeper of the Year by the coaches, and Caron was selected the Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s men’s soccer communications contacts.
Lugo is the first player to win consecutive Big South Offensive Player of the Year awards since 2021-22. Coming into 2026 as the Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Lugo is the first HPU men’s soccer player to ever win back-to-back Big South Offensive Player of the Year honors and the third in conference history since 2011. Lugo leads the Big South with 12 goals scored and ranks third with 27 points through 17 games and 1,147 minutes. The senior forward has netted a trio of game-winning goals and is fifth in all of Division I soccer with his 12 scores. He has three multi-goal games and is five points shy of his career-high 33 points. Lugo was also a back-to-back MAC Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List honoree, while being tabbed Big South Offensive Player of the Week once and to the Midseason Big South Players to Watch List for the second straight season. Most recently, he was ranked No. 41 in the TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top 100 Players’ rankings.
Zimbeva is the first Radford player to win Midfielder of the Year honors since the award was added in 2024. He powered the Highlanders to one of their most successful seasons this decade as he led the team with 17 points behind seven goals and three assists. The senior midfielder is the first Highlander to win a major annual award title for Radford since 2018. He notched game winners against VMI and UNC Asheville with four of his seven goals coming over the final six matches of the season during a crucial stretch for Radford, in which the squad went 2-1-3 in that span with wins over UNC Asheville and Longwood. His season totals for shots on goal and points both ranked top 10 in the Big South.
Behrmann has had a career year, recording collegiate highs in assists (10), games played (17), starts (16), and minutes (1,307). He is tied for fifth in Division I with his 10 assists as he has three multi-assist games which is also a new career high. The versatile senior assisted the game-winning goal at Upstate to earn his first Big South Defensive Player of the Week before previously being tabbed to the Midseason Big South Players to Watch List. Named the College Soccer News National Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 13, Behrmann is the TopDrawerSoccer No. 88 ranked player, as well as HPU’s fourth-straight Big South Defensive Player of the Year honoree.
Sarantakos has appeared in every game (17) with two starts this season, scoring four goals while assisting five more for 13 points. He recorded three points in a match three times, netting a goal and assist at No. 11 Virginia off the bench. The freshman netted the game-winning goal against George Washington and has logged 692 minutes en route to being named the Big South Freshman of the Week four times. Now, after being ranked No. 68 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 rankings, Sarantakos is the Panthers’ third straight Big South Freshman of the Year honoree.
Kreuzpeintner is the first Gardner-Webb player to be voted Newcomer of the Year, which recognizes the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. He posted team highs in goals (8) and points (20), while ranking second in assists (4) for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Named the Big South Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 2, Kreuzpeintner ranked second in the league in game-winning goals (3) and fourth in points per match (1.43). He scored at least one goal in five of seven conference matches, including a season-high two goals on Oct. 17 in a win over USC Upstate. The junior forward finished the regular season with 40 shots and 22 shots on goal, both of which rank fourth-most in the Big South.
Caron earns Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Big South Goalkeeper of the Year for the second year in a row, becoming the first player in conference history to ever do so. The graduate student has started and played every game (17) in 1,395 minutes, corralling 40 saves on 178 shots faced. He holds a 1.16 goals against average and a 9-3-1 record, while maintaining nearly a 4.0 GPA in the classroom as a Master of Business Administration student-athlete.
Barros has played and started in 15 matches this season for the Bulldogs, totaling 1,253 minutes between the pipes. His .781 save percentage leads the conference and ranks 32nd in the nation, while his 57 total saves are fourth in the league and 47th in Division I. His six shutouts also lead the conference and are 16th nationally, while he has compiled a record of 8-5-2 in goal. He was selected the Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week four times this season.
Led by Head Coach
Zach Haines, the High Point coaching staff is the second to be voted Big South Coaching Staff of the Year, an award that previously recognized head coaches only. Joined by associate head coaches
Josh Gillon and
Mason Marcey, the staff led High Point to its fourth consecutive Big South Conference Regular-Season Championship with a 5-0-2 league record and 10-3-4 overall mark. The Panthers knocked off nationally-ranked Virginia in the second game of the season, and were ranked as high as No. 7 this year. Entering the conference championship with an 11-match unbeaten streak (8-0-3), High Point finished the regular-season with 37 goals (2.18 per game), 45 assists (2.65), and a 1.12 goals-against average with six shutouts, and posted an 18-to-4 goal differential against Big South opponents.
The league also announced the 2026 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 an 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.
2026 Big South Conference Men’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F – Daniel Lugo, Sr., High Point
F – Brando Bedolla, Jr., Longwood
F – Tyler Ware, Sr., UNC Asheville
MF – Noel Zimbeva, Sr., Radford
MF – Alfred Baafi, Sr., High Point
MF – Oscar Kelly, Soph., USC Upstate
MF – Jorge Perez, R-Soph., Winthrop
D – Noah Behrmann, Sr., High Point
D – Roman Holt, Sr., High Point
D – Lennart Granzow, Sr., UNC Asheville
D – Michael Mor, Jr., Gardner-Webb
GK – Josh Caron, Gr., High Point
GK – Lucca Barros, R-Soph., UNC Asheville
AL – Tim Kreuzpeintner, F, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Second-Team All-Conference
F – Prosper Adagani, Soph., High Point
F – Nicolas Triguero, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F – Kayoum M'Bamba, Jr., UNC Asheville
MF – Adrian Biaggi, Sr., Gardner-Webb
MF – AJ Acree, Soph., Presbyterian
MF – Anthony Ramirez, Sr., High Point
MF – Ryan Behrmann, Jr., High Point
D – James Davies, Fr., UNC Asheville
D – Jackson Boreham, Jr., Radford
D – Ian Smith, Sr., UNC Asheville
D – Aidan Morrison, Sr., High Point
GK – Oliver Weng, Jr., Gardner-Webb
AL – Nick Sarantakos, F, Fr., High Point
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Tolu Fabamifobee, MF, Soph., USC Upstate
Juma Baden, F, Soph., Winthrop
Pau Garcia, MF, Fr., Longwood
Noah Simon, D, Gr., Gardner-Webb
Kieran Smith, D, Fr., High Point
All-Freshman Team
Nick Sarantakos, F, High Point
James Davies, D, UNC Asheville
Pau Garcia, MF, Longwood
Kieran Smith, D, High Point
Brice Hall, F, Radford
Kyle Hofmann, D, Gardner-Webb
Bashir Mansur, F, Gardner-Webb
Levon Saribekyan, F, Longwood
Luk Philipp Hohmann, MF, Gardner-Webb
Teo Jelaca, F, Winthrop
All-Academic Team
Tim Kreuzpeintner, Gardner-Webb
Josh Caron, High Point
Youssef Shafei, Longwood
Gabe Carvalho, Presbyterian
Ben Miller, Radford
Lennart Granzow, UNC Asheville
Josh Zawlocki, USC Upstate
Logan Story, Winthrop
Offensive Player of the Year
Daniel Lugo, High Point
Midfielder of the Year
Noel Zimbeva, Radford
Defensive Player of the Year
Noah Behrmann, High Point
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year
Josh Caron, High Point
Lucca Barros, UNC Asheville
Freshman of the Year
Nick Sarantakos, High Point
Newcomer of the Year
Tim Kreuzpeintner, Gardner-Webb
Coaching Staff of the Year
High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Josh Caron, High Point