HIGH POINT, N.C. — Fourteen goals – the seventh-most in the entire NCAA Division I. Big South Player of the Year honoree and Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List candidate, a distinction that is awarded to the best collegiate soccer player every year.
 
On paper and when watching the High Point University men's soccer team play, forward Daniel Lugo looks like he's always been a superstar on the field, but his rise to prominence tells a very different story – one of resilience, patience and growth.
 
"Life's going to kick you, and you gotta get up somehow," Lugo said.
 
It is hard to name a better collegiate soccer player this season than Lugo, who has been leading the offensive charge for the 10th-ranked Panthers who just advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after a 3-2 win over West Virginia University at Vert Stadium in the second round.
 
Lugo has logged 1,135 minutes across 19 game appearances this season, including 18 starts – a drastic shift from the role he played during his freshman and sophomore seasons as he has already played 951 more minutes this season alone than he did in those first two seasons combined.
 
An extremely successful high school career – including a regular season and national championship for his USL Academy, Tampa Bay United in which the St. Petersburg native won the Golden Boot after scoring five goals at the 2022 USL Academy Cup, and at the 2023 USL Academy Cup earned a selection on the Boys Best XI for the tournament after notching three scores – earned himself the attention of historic soccer program and two-time national champion, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Lugo would end up committing.
 
Despite an accomplished career prior to Chapel Hill, Lugo saw limited time during his first two years in college. He redshirted his freshman season, spending games on the sidelines, and then appeared in only 10 of the 18 games his sophomore season, wearing Carolina Blue and White.
 
Instead of complaining or pouting about the lack of minutes he was playing, Lugo used the valuable time to mold himself into one of college soccer's best through the lessons he learned being on the sidelines.
 
"It was kind of a very humbling experience, and it was great. It taught me that I needed to work harder," Lugo said. "I got to learn behind a very experienced and older group… so learning behind them was great, and they taught me so many things, and also the adversity that I faced, it was priceless, and it shaped me into who I am today."
 
After two years of playing a total of only 184 minutes, Lugo decided it was in his best interest to enter his name into the transfer portal and explore other opportunities that would be more beneficial for his growth, both on and off the field.
 
During the search for schools, Lugo reached out to a couple of friends he had grown up playing against, who all played together less than 70 miles from Chapel Hill.
 
"I texted some of my friends here [High Point University], who I grew up with in Tampa, so Brendan Krueger, Josh Caron, John Killgore and Lukas Kamrath," Lugo said. "I was seeing all the great things that they were accomplishing last season, so I knew that they were an elite program. I asked them, 'Hey, do you think that I would be a good fit here? Could you guys talk to your coaches?"
 
Lugo took a visit to the campus and met with HPU Head Coach Zach Haines, who, in seven seasons with the Panthers, starting when he took over the job in 2019, has completely transformed the program into a national soccer powerhouse that has been able to compete with the best teams in the country — evident in last season's win over No. 1 Pittsburgh on the road or in 2022's win against, coincidentally, UNC, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
 
Identical to Lugo, Haines played collegiate soccer for the Tar Heels for two seasons before being forced to take a medical release due to injury in 2006. A connection was instantly formed as soon as Lugo walked into Haines' office on his visit because Haines understood what Lugo had gone through, and that a comeback story was brewing.
 
"He [Haines] from the jump was just a very caring guy. Just wanted to hear my story. Him being a guy who came from Carolina, he knew what I kind of had gone through, and just from the jump, it was a very genuine two-way connection," Lugo said.
 
With the newly formed bond with Haines and numerous really good friends of Lugo's already at HPU, it made the decision just that much easier for him to decide upon the next chapter of his life, which was to commit to wearing Purple and White under the lights of Vert Stadium for his redshirt sophomore season.
 
"Lugo is someone that we knew in high school," Haines said. "He went to Carolina first, redshirted, and then he played some his sophomore year, but didn't really break in to maybe the level that we would have expected, and certainly he expected, and he was just ready for a change. He felt like he wanted a different experience for his last couple years. And we had those connections already built in with his former club teammates down in Tampa… It was really the relationships that led us to Daniel and then also him to us. So, it became very clear that it was a mutually great fit because we had all this connective tissue with trusted people on his side and our side."
 
"Talking to all the coaches throughout the recruitment process, it was kind of like they stuck out from everybody else in terms of the way they treated me," Lugo said. "I really appreciated them, and they made me feel like I was going to be a big part moving forward of their program."
 
Lugo was exactly that and more for the program, and it started in the season opener against 2019 national champion and No. 14/25 Georgetown at Vert Stadium, where Lugo would be making not only his debut for HPU but also his much-anticipated first career collegiate start after two years at Carolina, where the most minutes he saw in a single game were 30.
 
It took no time for Lugo to make his impression on the field and showcase the talent that had been stored away and built up over the past two years. Just two minutes and 41 seconds of game time into the season for HPU, it was Lugo's name that was being echoed throughout the stands as he was swarmed on the far side corner of the field by his teammates after HPU's Chris Niblock fired the ball into the goal box, directly to Lugo as he leaped in the air and headered home his first career collegiate goal.
 
"It was my first home game at Vert," Lugo said. "The stands were packed. I'm so nervous before the game. It's Georgetown, first game of the season, so getting that first goal early was like a weight lifted off my shoulders, being the new guy at the new school, and having expectations to deliver as the starting striker. And then fast forward to the second half, I get another one, and I felt like I was on the moon."
 
Lugo didn't want to just leave an impression on the field in that Thursday night game, Lugo wanted to stamp a legacy game that he could vividly replay in his mind for years to come, and he did just that in front of his mom and the 1,011 other fans in attendance as he netted home his second goal of the game and his first career collegiate brace in the 63rd minute.
 
In that singular moment, running to the near side's corner flag after striking a laser to the top middle back of the net thanks to Niblock, again, setting him up perfectly in the penalty box, Lugo knew all of the struggles and mental challenges he dealt with his first two years in college, but especially his freshman season not being able to lace his cleats and run out onto the field that he's so loved since he was four years old, was all worth it.
 
"It was crazy, the fans are going crazy. The lights are so bright. The scoreboard, there's like a video of me playing, and it's like, 'Wow, this is what all the hard work, all the struggles was for," Lugo said.
 
What HPU and soccer fans didn't know was that the Georgetown game was only the beginning of something truly special being formed in that No. 9 jersey as the goal scoring didn't stop in that Georgetown game; instead, the goals kept flooding in, game after game.
 
"I wanted to come be able to become someone who could be making a big impact at a program like High Point," Lugo said. "So, to be able to that, it was just kind of what I was expecting, but also so surreal at the same time. I didn't expect two goals against Georgetown to be the start of it, but I always wanted to contribute to the team as best as I could."
 
Lugo would score four more goals against non-conference opponents, including a crucial score on the road against 10th-ranked West Virginia in the 19th minute, before going on an absolute tear in Big South Conference play, starting in the first conference game against Presbyterian, as Lugo broke away from the entire defense and knocked in the goal.
 
"He's a killer in the box," Haines said. "We know that, and we have to make sure that we're continuing to put him in good positions, which he has an amazing cast around him that is getting him the service he needs. They're getting him the opportunities, and we know that he's going to deliver because he's just got that ability in and around the goal to score in any kind of way."
 
Lugo went into the regular-season finale against Winthrop with a team-leading 10 goals, and he couldn't have closed out the regular season against the Eagles in more dominant fashion as he kicked in two more goals, both coming in the first 30 minutes of action, to help HPU close out the regular season with an 11-1-4 record and top seed heading into the Big South Conference Tournament.
 
"I'd say I've always had an eye for the goal. I love finishing, and that's something that definitely helps," Lugo said. "The coaches work so hard to give us the game plan, and then I have excellent players around me to execute that game plan and help me execute what I have to do, so I just get to finish the attacks."
 
The incredible regular season, which included a conference-leading 12 goals and 27 points, earned Lugo multiple awards and nominations. Lugo was named the Big South Offensive Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and First-Team Big South, as well as being named to the most prestigious award in all of collegiate soccer – the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List. Lugo became the fifth Panther in program history selected to this distinguished watch list and the first HPU players selected since MD Myers and Sebastian Chalbaud in 2021.
 
"He is having a big time season because you know, what he went through the last couple years of really not getting opportunities, he had to make a change for his career and for his college experience to be what he wanted to be," Haines said. "I just love the fact that he's come here, and it's worked out for him on the field, but also, I mean, the guy is as happy as can be off the field. It feels like he's been here a long time. He's found his brothers, he's found his family, and so you just love it when a situation like that works out in every way, on and off the field, particularly a transfer portal situation because we do not dive into the portal too much, but when you do, you want to make sure that it's a great fit and it has been"
 
A regular season as historic as Lugo's does not just happen overnight, especially for a player who saw very limited minutes over two years. There were a lot of changes and tweaks made in Lugo's life off the field that he credits to his incredible success on the field.
 
"The biggest change I've made in my life as a player is my nutrition and my performance in the gym," Lugo said. "After I transferred, I started going to the gym a lot, started building up this regimen, and started eating a lot cleaner, so I was able to put on a lot of strength. Then also with that I did a lot of conditioning… because after not playing for two years, you kind of lose match fitness, and everyone knows, in college, you got to be super fit because it's a very physical game. I felt so much different, so much stronger and so much better out there after I made those changes."
 
The dedication to the little details – eating healthier, becoming physically stronger and building up the endurance to sustain the level it takes to play and compete against the best collegiate soccer teams in the nation – paid off tremendously as Lugo showed no sign of slowing down at any point in the regular season, and as tournament play ramped up, Lugo only added onto his case for the MAC Hermann Trophy.
 
In the semifinal game of the Big South Conference tournament against USC Upstate, it took only five minutes and 53 seconds for Lugo to tally the team's first goal of the game and his 13th score of the season. The Panthers easily defeated the Spartans, 5-0, to advance to the championship game against Gardner-Webb, whom HPU beat earlier in the season 3-0 in a game that who else, but Lugo scored.
 
The outcome in the championship game was exactly the same as the match earlier in the season, as High Point cruised to a 3-0 shutout win over Gardner-Webb for its third time in program history winning both the Big South regular season and tournament championships. It started with Lugo in the 57th minute, sliding for the incredible score past three defenders for the 1-0 lead and his NCAA-leading seventh game-winning goal of the season to help HPU hoist its fourth Big South Conference Tournament Championship trophy in program history, and book the Panthers' third trip in four years to the 48-team NCAA Tournament for.
 
"It's great momentum, and we know that that's what we deserve because we've earned it and we've worked hard, but now it's time to dig in and keep working even harder to win these trophies because ultimately, we want to make it as far as possible run in the tournament," Lugo said. "We know that we're capable of winning every trophy possible. We know we're going to have to outwork every team that comes our way from now on.
 
Now, the Panthers are days out from their second matchup of the season against the Georgetown Hoyas, this time in Washington, D.C., in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament after HPU's 3-2 win over West Virginia in the second round. One hundred days will separate the last time the Panthers squared off against the Hoyas in a game that Lugo's name circulated throughout college soccer with his two goals to beat top-25 Georgetown.
 
The stage is a lot higher in this game, however, than in that Aug. 21 matchup because the winner will advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, and the other team's season will come to an end. Lugo is looking to make his mark again against the Hoyas to keep the Panthers' season alive, and will use his experience during his time at Chapel Hill to lead HPU to victory.
 
"Getting to see at UNC going to Elite Eights, fighting for College Cups, and being fortunate to be in that position, I know that as the season gets longer, people get tired, people want to drop, and then it is just kind of a battle of willpower so I'd say the biggest message from me, from what I have seen is that you got to dig," Lugo said. "Everyone's tired, but you don't want to show them that you are tired. So the more we dig, the more that we fight, the more that we hunt, I think the better and the further we will go."
 
From not playing his freshman season and watching his Tar Heels teammates' compete in the College Cup quarterfinals against Oregon State to now playing in the limelight on the center stage of the College Cup, Lugo has learned a lot in those near 24 months.
 
"Everything happens for a reason," Lugo said. "I try not to get too down on anything, like not playing at UNC. I knew that God had a plan for me, and that I just had to keep working at it. Things are going to come, and then you just got to trust the people around you coming here, trusting Zach [Haines], just really buying in to his process for me has been great, and I just did my time. Obviously got to take care of everything off the field before I can take care of stuff on the field so he's [Haines] been great in making sure I'm locked in on stuff, but I just say, trust the process, work hard, and enjoy every moment because if you're not enjoying what you're doing then you're going to lose track and you're not going to be able to make any progress so that's kind of what I've learned as time goes on."
 
That learning over two years, consisting of patience and internal development, has shaped Lugo as a person more than his on the field development. The adversity he faced didn't just build a stronger player; it built a stronger person.
 
"I'd say I've grown more as a person than a player, so nothing really has changed with me technical," Lugo said. "I've always been pretty confident in my technical abilities. Just my discipline's gotten better. Just as a person, taking care of the classroom, the gym work, all that stuff that it might suck to do, but like little by little, if you take care of those, then the stuff on the field will truly get easier."
 
Lugo's transformation doesn't just happen from his own persistence and learning at UNC; it happens just as much from the support and trust he received from Zach Haines and the coaching staff at HPU when he arrived on campus in January 2025, ready for a brand new start and ready to get to work in his new environment.
 
"They've meant the world to me and my family," Lugo said. "They kind of took a chance on me when I was, for the most part, unproven, just being a kid from the ACC, and them having so much faith in me to come and be a vital for them has just made me want to work so hard for them, and the relationships I have with all the coaches is just great. Just building those relationships with them is something I want to cherish for life, and I'm beyond grateful for all the things they've done for me."
 
If Lugo's journey so far is any indication, his success story is only just getting started in evolving as a person and as a player.
 
"As a person, I just want to keep growing. I want to keep making meaningful connections, and I want to keep improving as a person," Lugo said. "Then as a player. It's kind of crazy because freshman, sophomore me would have never even thought about going pro, but now it's a true possibility. Right now, I'm not really focused about that because I'm focused on the season and the team but after that, it's definitely a possibility, and I'd love to potentially get drafted if that's what is possible for me… I know whatever will come my way, if I keep working hard and I keep being true to myself as a person, and doing the right stuff, I'll be able to hopefully succeed in soccer, a job, as being a friend, a brother, all that stuff."
 
As Lugo reflects back on his incredible journey of many setbacks, the tireless hours of hard work, and the ultimate patience that allowed him to keep pushing on, Lugo has a new mindset – one of discipline, but most importantly, gratitude.
 
"I would say as a player to just always work hard and work hard with a smile on your face," Lugo said. "There's no time to be moping around, whether you're not playing or whatever, you've got to progress yourself as a player and as a person. Get better every day or else you're wasting time, and you've got to do it with a smile on your face. I just got to remember how blessed we really are to be here as athletes. This is stuff that, as kids, we dream of, so just to enjoy it and smile and always work hard because if you work hard, then the results will come with that."
 
Lugo's path to greatness is a reminder that everyone's journey is different – some players arrive as instant phenoms that light up scoreboards from the jump, molded by early opportunity, while others are built through years of perseverance and detours that ultimately shape the person and player.
 
Lugo's story is a testament of someone who endured the process, and trusted that his moment, when it came, would be earned through preparation built up over time.