CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South All-Conference Men's Soccer Award Winners have been announced as 10 Panthers were voted on by fellow Big South coaches and recognized Friday afternoon.
 
The regular-season champs had four players named to the Big South First Team as Jefferson Amaya, Seth Antwi, Finn McRobb and Karson Kendall were honored, while Josh Caron and Kaya Ignacio were named to the Big South Second Team. Alex Abril and Tony Pineda garnered Big South Honorable Mention accolades. The All-Freshman Team included Anthony Ramirez and Caron; meanwhile, Noah Holmes was named to the All-Academic Team.
 
Amaya, earned the Big South Offensive Player of the Year Award while McRobb, took home the Defensive Player of the Year award. Holmes was a scholar in the classroom this past year, earning him the naming rights to the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
 
Zach Haines, in his fifth season as head coach, has earned his second Big South Coach of the Year award. Haines took home this award last year after having a spectacular season taking the guys to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
#4 Jefferson Amaya, So., Midfielder: Big South Offensive Player of the Year / Big South First Team
 
Amaya has been a key part of the Panthers offense. He has started all 15 games he has played this season, scoring five goals with six assists. Amaya helped the team to all their conference wins with four Big South Conference goals and four assists. He led the Big South in conference game points (12) and was a two-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week winner. Amaya was named #96 on the TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top-100 Player list. Prior to his sophomore season, Amaya was listed to the preseason all-conference team.
 
#6 Finn McRobb. Sr., Defender: Big South Defensive Player of the Year / Big South First Team
 
McRobb, one of the captains of the Panther this year played a huge roll on the pitch. McRobb started in all 16 games he played in. He scored five goals, two of those coming in conference play. He was a part of the HPU defense that only allowed five goals against conference opponents. Starting his senior year on the right foot, McRobb, was named as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year; meanwhile adding two Big South Defensive Player of the Week awards. TopDrawerSoccer recognized McRobb as a part of their National Team of the Week (Sept. 18) and #56 on TDS Midseason Top-100 list.
 
#18 Seth Antwi, Gr., Midfielder: Big South First Team
 
Antwi, a transfer from Dayton has stapled himself as a huge part of the Panthers success this season. He started all 16 games he played in, netting two goals. Both his goals came in victories over Big South opponents. Antwi was awarded a Big South Defensive Player of the Week award while also garnering a TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top-100 at #82. Earlier this season, Antwi was named to the TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week.
 
#5 Karson Kendall, Gr., Defender: Big South First Team
 
Kendall was a part of the brick wall the Panthers defense created on the pitch. He was named to Preseason All-Conference Team to start his graduate year in purple in white. Kendall started in all 16 games he played in, only allowing five goals in Big South play.
 
#9 Kaya Ignacio, Sr., Midfielder: Big South Second Team
 
Ignacio is his senior season with High Point played all 16 games, in which he started 14 of them. He scored three goals and had three assists. One goal and two assists coming in Big South play. Ignacio established himself in the top 10 in Big South Conference game assists.
 
#0 Josh Caron, Fr., Goalkeeper: Big South Second Team / Big South All-Freshman Team
 
Caron earned his spot as the starting keeper halfway through the season. After not playing last year as he redshirted, Caron started all nine games he played in this year. Only allowing 7 seven goals and holding 0.83 goals against average. Caron held a .767 save percentage making 23 saves; meanwhile he tallied a 5-2-2 record with five shutouts. In the Big South Conference, Caron allowed one goal, making 11 saves with three shutouts. He has stapled himself as first in Big South Conference game shutouts, goals against average and save percentage.
 
#17 Alex Abril, Gr., Forward: Big South Honorable Mention
 
Abril came back from a season ending injury and shined bright under the light's this year. He played in 15 games, making 12 starts along the way. Abril scored two goals, dishing out three assists. He finds himself in the top 10 in Big South Conference game assists (2).
 
#14 Tony Pineda, Gr., Forward: Big South Honorable Mention
 
Pineda played a key role in the offense this season, playing in 16 games, making 12 starts. Pineda netted five goals and dished out two assists. Two of those goals and one assist came in conference games: leading him to being in the top 10 in overall points in the Big South Conference.
 
#24 Noah Holmes, Gr., Forward: Big South Scholar Athlete
 
Holmes, a captain of the Panthers played in 16 games, making 11 starts on the way. He scored three goals, and one assists all coming against Big South opponents. Holmes lands in the top 10 in Big South Conference game points. Before the season, Holmes was awarded the Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Award. Throughout this year, Holmes was listed as the Big South Offensive Player of the Week, CollegeSoccerNews National Team of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week. To top it off, Holmes holds a 4.0 GPA while on his way to an MBA in Business Analytics.
 
#10 Anthony Ramirez, Fr., Midfielder: Big South All-Freshman Team
 
Ramirez joined the team as a first-year freshman playing all 16 games, making eight starts along the way. Ramirez scored two goals, one of those being against a Big South opponent. He was listed as #78 in TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top-100 Freshman.
 
Head Coach Zach Haines: Big South Coach of the Year
 
This is the second consecutive season Haines has taken home the Big South Coach of the Year honor. He led the Panthers to a 6-0-1 Big South record; the only team to not suffer a conference loss in 2023. High Point finished the regular season 9-3-4 overall. Finishing first in the conference in goals (32), goals per game (2.00), fewest goals allowed (18), goals against average (1.13) and shutouts (6). In Big South matches, High Point allowed the fewest goals (5) and had the most shutouts (4). He also led the team to being first in points (54), goals (19), assists (16) and assists per game (2.29).
 
Haines holds a 53-24-12 record, giving him a .663-win loss percentage. In his last four seasons as head coach, he has led High Point to its first NCAA Tournament victory over UNC and made an appearance in the second round. Haines Big South Record over the five years is 31-1-7, winning four Big South Trophies. The last road loss to a Big South opponent was in September 2016. High Point has not lost a Big South game on home turf since 2019. The team under coach Haines has maintained a team GPA above a 3.0 and has received five consecutive Team Academic Awards. The recruiting class the last four years has been nationally ranked; most recently ranked No. 16 in the nation.
 
 

2023 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Award Winners
 
First-Team All-Conference
F:  Damorney Hutchinson, Jr., Presbyterian College
F:  Ricardo Ferreira, Jr., Winthrop
F:  Victor Faaborg Christensen, Fr., Presbyterian College
MF:  Jefferson Amaya, Soph., High Point
MF:  Seth Antwi, Gr., High Point
MF:  Brendan Herb, Sr., UNC Asheville
MF:  Conor Behan, Jr., UNC Asheville
D:  Finn McRobb, Sr., High Point
D:  Myles Edmondson, Jr., UNC Asheville
D:  Karson Kendall, Gr., High Point
D:  Felipe Marty, Sr., USC Upstate
GK:  Charlie Farrar, Jr., UNC Asheville
AL:  Carson Griffith, Sr., Presbyterian College
 
Second-Team All-Conference
F:  Jeremy Montero, Sr., USC Upstate
F:  Pablo Brimeux, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F:  Braiden Hall, Soph., USC Upstate
MF:  Nick Guido, Sr., Winthrop
MF:  Caio Hughes, Soph., Gardner-Webb
MF:  Sam Pitts-Eckersall, Soph., UNC Asheville
MF:  Kaya Ignacio, Sr., High Point
D:  Shady Hammam, Gr., Radford
D:  Mason Butcher, Sr., Longwood
D:  Griffin Stidham, Sr., UNC Asheville
D:  Diego Candia, Jr., Winthrop
GK:  Josh Caron, R-Fr., High Point
AL:  Santiago Hoyos, F, Soph., Gardner-Webb
 
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Alex Kryashev, F, Sr., Radford
Simao Coelho, F, Soph., Longwood
Alex Abril, F, Gr., High Point
Rodrigo Ferreira, MF, Jr., Winthrop
Tony Pineda, F, Gr., High Point
 
All-Freshman Team
Victor Faaborg Christensen, F, Fr., Presbyterian College
Anthony Ramirez, MF, Fr., High Point
Josh Caron, GK, R-Fr., High Point
Jack Steel, MF, Fr., UNC Asheville
Max Fisher, D, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Cooper Jennings, GK, R-Fr., USC Upstate
Darcy Moffat, F, Fr., Longwood (tie)
Dzenan Cerimagic, F, Fr., USC Upstate (tie)
 
All-Academic Team
Giampaolo Nardi, MF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Noah Holmes, F, Gr., High Point
Gonzalo Carrasco, MF, Gr., Longwood
Carson Griffith, MF, Sr., Presbyterian College
Noah Haddad, D, Gr., Radford
Brendan Herb, MF, Sr., UNC Asheville
Jakob Benz, D, Soph., USC Upstate
Grayson Woodard, F, Sr., Winthrop
 
Offensive Player of the Year
Jefferson Amaya, MF, Soph., High Point
 
Goalkeeper of the Year
Charlie Farrar, Jr., UNC Asheville
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Finn McRobb, D, Sr., High Point
 
Freshman of the Year
Victor Faaborg Christensen, F, Presbyterian College
 
Newcomer of the Year
Damorney Hutchinson, Jr., F, Presbyterian College
 
Coach of the Year
Zach Haines, High Point
 
Scholar-Athlete of the Year 
Noah Holmes, F, Gr., High Point