Big South Announces 2026 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Defending women’s soccer champion
High Point has been voted the favorite in the annual Big South Conference preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. In addition, the coaches voted Longwood’s
Samantha Fischer (Charlottesville, Va.) the Preseason Forward of the Year, High Point’s
Kari Powell (Boiling Springs, Pa.) the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, Radford’s
Caitlyn Nottingham (Moseley, Va.) the Preseason Defender of the Year, and Radford’s
Lexi Radvanyi (Leesburg, Va.) the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
The Panthers, under the direction of fifth-year head coach
Aaron McGuiness, collected seven of the nine first-place votes and 76 total points in being voted the preseason favorite for the first time since 2021. In 2025, HPU won the Big South conference championship as the No. 4 seed, and welcomes back seven starters and 17 players from last year’s squad.
Radford was voted second behind High Point with 69 points and received a first-place vote.
Longwood totaled 63 points to finish third in the poll, and was followed by
USC Upstate (58 points and the remaining first-place vote).
Charleston Southern landed in the fifth spot (43 points), with
Winthrop (32 points) in the sixth position.
UNC Asheville claimed seventh in the polling (29 points), followed by
Gardner-Webb (eighth, 22 points) and
Presbyterian College (ninth, 13 points).
Fischer was the 2025 Big South Freshman of the Year as well as a First-Team All-Big South forward who tied for second in the conference with seven goals and tied for third in the circuit with 16 points. She was the Big South Offensive Player of the Week once and Big South Freshman of the Week twice, and played in all 19 matches last season with seven starts. Fischer tallied 42 shots with 20 on goal in 826 minutes, and notched three match-winning goals. She scored her first collegiate goal in the season opener against Alabama A&M on Aug. 14, and scored in each of the first three matches -- capped by a two-goal, one assist performance against VMI on Aug. 20. She also scored match-winning goals in back-to-back, 1-0 wins at High Point (Oct. 1) and at home against Presbyterian (Oct. 4).
Powell was named to the Big South All-Tournament Team last season and was a member of the 2024 Big South All-Freshman Team. She started all 20 games a season ago and recorded two goals. Powell played the second-most minutes for the Panthers in 2025 with 1,534, which included all 110 minutes against USC Upstate in the Big South Championship Match.
Nottingham was one of six Highlanders to start every game in 2025, and she played the fourth-most minutes on the team at 1,216. She tallied a goal plus three assists over the course of the season, and helped the Highlanders record six shutouts. Nottingham logged her first assist on August 21 vs. Emory & Henry, scored her lone goal of the year on Sept. 11 at East Tennessee State, and posted assists vs. Morehead State (Sept. 7) and Gardner-Webb (Oct. 29).
Radvanyi received Big South Honorable Mention All-Conference honors last season as she started all 16 games in net and played a full 90-minutes in all but two matches for 1,421 total minutes. She finished the campaign with 51 saves, a .729 saves percentage, 10 wins, six shutouts with a 1.20 goals against average (4th-best in the Big South). Radvanyi earned the Big South Defensive Player of the Week honor (Oct. 6) after making a career-high 10 saves in a 2-1 win at USC Upstate. She recorded five shutouts during Big South play, including a pair to end the regular season to clinch the Big South regular-season championship. She ranks tied for fifth in Radford history with 14 career shutouts seventh in goalie minutes (3,589).
The 2026 Big South women’s soccer season begins Wednesday, Aug. 12, while Conference play opens Saturday, Sept. 19. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the 2026 Big South Women’s Soccer Championship, which is scheduled for Nov. 5 (First Round), Nov. 10 (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.
2026 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON WOMEN’S SOCCER HONORS
Preseason Forward of the Year: Samantha Fischer, Longwood
Preseason Midfielder of the Year: Kari Powell, High Point
Preseason Defender of the Year: Caitlyn Nottingham, Radford
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: Lexi Radvanyi, Radford
2026 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON WOMEN’S SOCCER POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (7) |
76 |
| 2 - Radford (1) |
69 |
| 3 - Longwood |
63 |
| 4 - USC Upstate (1) |
58 |
| 5 - Charleston Southern |
43 |
| 6 - Winthrop |
32 |
| 7 - UNC Asheville |
29 |
| 8 - Gardner-Webb |
22 |
| 9 - Presbyterian College |
13 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.