The North Greenville Trailblazers have been picked to finish fourth in the 2026 Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Preseason Poll following an 11-win season and postseason run in 2025.
North Greenville received 161 points and one first-place vote from the league's head coaches. Defending Conference Carolinas Tournament champion Young Harris was selected as the preseason favorite with 189 points and nine first-place votes. Francis Marion followed in second with 174 points and three first-place votes, while Chowan was third with 169 points and one first-place vote. North Greenville and Converse, which received 146 points and one first-place vote, completed the top five.
The Trailblazers are coming off an 11-6-3 season in which they went 6-4-3 in Conference Carolinas play. NGU advanced through the Conference Carolinas Tournament with shutout victories over Ferrum and Lees-McRae before its season came to an end in the championship match against Young Harris. North Greenville was particularly strong defensively, allowing just 14 goals in 20 matches while recording 10 shutouts.
Graduate forward Ezra Hoffman, sophomore forward Ethan Henderson and junior defender Rodrigo Silva were selected as North Greenville's three Players to Watch entering the 2026 season. Silva returns after earning Second Team All-Conference Carolinas honors last season.
Hoffman returns as one of North Greenville's top offensive threats after tying for second on the team with four goals in 2025. He added an assist to finish with nine points while recording a team-high 31 shots. Hoffman appeared in 19 matches with nine starts and scored one game-winning goal. He finished the season on a strong note, scoring in three of NGU's final four matches including goals in postseason victories over Ferrum and Lees-McRae and another against Young Harris.
Silva was a fixture on the North Greenville back line during his All-Conference campaign, starting all 20 matches and logging a team-high 1,784 minutes among field players. He helped anchor a defense that held opponents to just 0.70 goals per match and 10.2 shots per game while producing 10 shutouts. Offensively, Silva also recorded six shots during the season.
Henderson joins the soccer program from Dean College, where he led the team with five goals in the 2025 season.
The 2026 season begins this evening on the road against the Catawba College Indians in Salisbury, North Carolina.
2026 Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
