Big South Announces 2026 Men's Soccer Preseason Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the fourth 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
Daniel Lugo (St. Petersburg, Fla.) the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, HPU’s
Koven Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, the Panthers’
Roman Holt (Tampa, Fla.) and UNC Asheville’s
Lennart Granzow (Hamburg, Germany) the Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and High Point’s
Josh Caron (Palm Harbor, Fla.) the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
High Point, which is 37-1-7 in Big South matches since 2019 and the three-time defending regular-season champion, received all eight first-place votes cast and 64 total points in the polling to become the Big South’s first unanimous preseason favorite since 2012. The Panthers, under the direction of eighth-year head coach
Zach Haines, return six starters and 19 players from last year’s squad that was nationally-ranked and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA College Cup. HPU enters the 2026 campaign ranked No. 16 in the United Soccer Coaches’ preseason National Top 25 poll.
UNC Asheville was second in the voting with 49 points, just ahead of third-place
USC Upstate (48 points).
Gardner-Webb collected 39 points to finish fourth in the poll.
Longwood landed in the fifth position with 33 points, followed by
Presbyterian College in sixth (26 points).
Winthrop was voted seventh (19 points), while
Radford finished in the final spot with 10 points.
The All-American Lugo returns to HPU for his senior season after becoming the program's second-highest draft pick when the Vancouver Whitecaps selected him in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft with the 29th overall pick last December. In 2025, his first season at High Point after transferring from North Carolina, Lugo started in 19 of 20 games while scoring 14 goals -- with a single-season program-best seven game-winning scores -- and assisting on five for a team and conference-leading 33 points in 1,191 minutes played. The Floridan racked up the accolades in one season as he was voted the 2025-26 Big South Conference Male Athlete of the Year, the Big South Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year, Big South Newcomer of the Year, Big South Tournament MVP, Big South First-Team All-Conference, United Soccer Coaches All-American, MAC Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List, TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Year Finalist, and a member of the TDS Best XI First Team as the No. 4 player in the nation. He was recently named to the United Soccer Coaches’ 2026 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy NCAA Division I Men's Players to Watch List.
Johnson, who was drafted 70th overall in the MLS SuperDraft by Colorado Rapids last December, played in all 20 games in 2025 with 17 starts. He scored his first collegiate goal at UNC Asheville on Oct. 4, and logged 1,408 minutes on the pitch. Johnson contributed to the team’s best goal differential in Big South history at 30-1, and helped the squad register 10 shutouts. In two seasons, the Pittsburgh native has made an appearance in every match (35) with 21 starts and 2,109 minutes played. As a freshman in 2024, Johnson helped the Panthers to their first-ever victory over a No. 1-ranked team in his hometown against the Pitt Panthers on Oct. 14, a 1-0 win for one of six clean sheets.
Holt was a TopDrawerSoccer.com 2025 Postseason Freshmen Top 100 selection at No. 5, was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com 2025 Freshman Best XI Team, the TopDrawerSoccer.com 2025 Midseason Freshmen Top 100 (No. 13), as well as the Big South All-Freshman Team. He started all 20 matches for the Panthers a season ago, and logged 1,720 minutes with 14 full-time matches played. Holt dished out his first collegiate assist at Radford on Oct. 18, and was part of a defense that posted 10 shutouts and held Big South opponents to just one score in seven matches.
Granzow earned First-Team All-Conference honors in his first season with the Bulldogs in 2025. He appeared in 15 matches with 12 starts, and scored three goals for six points with 11 shots. Granzow scored his first goal of the season at East Tennessee State (Sept. 16), and added scores against Radford (Sept. 27) and at Winthrop (Oct. 25). He totaled 1,158 minutes on the pitch, and played all 90 minutes in 12-straight matches to end the season.
Caron was the 2025 Big South Goalkeeper of the Year, in addition to the 2025-26 Big South Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Caron also earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second-Team honors -- the first Panther selected as an Academic All-American since 2012. Caron started all 20 games in 2025, which featured a program-tying best nine complete shutouts and 10 combined clean sheets on 180 shots faced in 1,782 minutes played for a 14-2-4 record. He allowed just 15 goals for a 0.76 goals against average, and led the Panthers to a pair of Big South Conference Championships, as well as the best league goal difference in Big South history (30-1), plus HPU's first NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearance after the school's first-ever second round win over West Virginia.
The 2026 Big South men’s soccer season begins Thursday, Aug. 20, while Conference play opens on Saturday, Sept. 19. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the 2026 Big South Men’s Soccer Championship, which is scheduled for Nov. 4 (First Round), Nov. 8 (Semifinals) and Nov. 14 (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.
2026 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON MEN'S SOCCER HONORS
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Daniel Lugo, High Point
Preseason Midfielder of the Year: Koven Johnson, High Point
Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Roman Holt, High Point & Lennart Granzow, UNC Asheville
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: Josh Caron, High Point
2026 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON MEN’S SOCCER POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (8) |
64 |
| 2 - UNC Asheville |
49 |
| 3 - USC Upstate |
48 |
| 4 - Gardner-Webb |
39 |
| 5 - Longwood |
33 |
| 6 - Presbyterian College |
26 |
| 7 - Winthrop |
19 |
| 8 - Radford |
10 |
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.