CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The High Point University men’s soccer team was picked to finish second in the 2014 Big South Conference preseason poll, the league announced on Wednesday. HPU received 82 total points to finish in a tie with Winthrop for second.
Defending Big South champion Coastal Carolina was picked as the preseason favorite by the conference’s coaches. The Chanticleers received seven of 10 first-place votes and 96 total points to top the preseason poll.
Winthrop tied High Point with 82 points and received two first-place votes. Campbell tallied the final first-place vote and 65 total points to finish fourth in the voting while Liberty was fifth with 58 points. Radford claimed the sixth position with 48 points, just ahead of Gardner-Webb who was picked seventh with 43 points. Longwood garnered eighth place with 35 points, followed by UNC Asheville (23 points) and Presbyterian College (18 points).
High Point finished the 2013 season with an 8-8-3 overall record and was second in the Big South with a 6-2-1 conference mark. The Panthers return 10 starters from last season’s squad, including leading scorer and NSCAA All-Region selection Mamadee Nyepon, and All-Conference selections Sonny Mukungu, Kody Palmer
2014 Big South Preseason Attacking Player of the Year
Ricky Garbanzo, Coastal Carolina
2014 Big South Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Shawn McLaws, Coastal Carolina
2014 Big South Preseason Poll
Team (First Place Votes) Points Coastal Carolina (7) 96 High Point 82 Winthrop (2) 82 Campbell (1) 65 Liberty 58 Radford 48 Gardner-Webb 43 Longwood 35 UNC Asheville 23 Presbyterian College 18