BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell and Elon face outside competition for the first time in the 2018 preseason on Sunday when the Camels and Phoenix square off in a 6:00 p.m. start at McPherson Stadium at Bryan Park in Browns Summit, N.C... Campbell will travel to Appalachian State Saturday (Aug. 18) for its preseason finale, while Elon heads to Gardner-Webb Thursday (Aug. 16)
 
2017 RECAP: Campbell finished third in the 2017 Big South standings after posting a 9-7-3 overall (5-2-1) Big South mark. Campbell was 4-4-1 at home and 5-3-2 away from the Eakes Athletic Complex last season...  Elon was 7-5-6, 3-2-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association, last season its first under head coach Marc Reeves, who was twice named Big South coach of the year at Radford.  Elon set school records for fewest goals allowed (11) and goals-against average (0.57) and tied the program mark with 10 shutouts.
 
EXPERIENCE BACK FOR CAMELS: Ten players who started double figure games a year ago return for the Orange & Black this fall.  In addition to JJ Donnelly, who earned all-conference and all-region honors after ranking 12th in the country in goals (13 in 19 matches), the Camels return Big South freshman of the year Alemu Mercer-Miko, first-team all-league defender Gideon Betz and Gabe Parrish, who was selected as honorable mention all-league after ranking second in the Big South with seven assists.  Also back is Humberto Chaves, who joined Mercer-Miko on the Big South all-freshman team.
 
DONNELLY SHARES PRESEASON BIG SOUTH HONOR: Senior forward JJ Donnelly (London, England) was named Big South Conference preseason co-attacking player of the year along with Radford's Kieran Roberts.  Donnelly had a pair of hat tricks and tallied 13 times in a 14-match stretch in his first year at CU after transferring from Eastern Florida State. Campbell was unbeaten (6-0-2) in the eight outings in which Donnelly scored.
 
BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL:  1. High Point (7) 76, 2. Radford 69, 3. Campbell (1) 62, 4. Presbyterian 54, 5. Gardner-Webb 36, 6. Winthrop 33, T7. UNC Asheville (1) 27, T7. Longwood 27, 9. USC Upstate 21. (first place votes in parenthesis).
 
CHALLENGING SLATE: The 2018 Fighting Camel schedule includes six teams that advanced to NCAA postseason play a year ago.  CU opens with defending Horizon League champ Illinois-Chicago (Aug. 24) and America title holder SMU (Aug. 26) at Dallas.  2017 College Cup participants Presbyterian (Big South tournament champion), Omaha (Summit), Duke and  Old Dominion (Conference USA) also dot this year's Camel slate.
 
BATTLE BETWEEN THE PIPES:  Following the graduation of 4-year starter (and 2017 Big South all-conference performer) Matt Mozyski, who played every minute in goal for the Camels last year, a 3-way battle will commence in preseason camp for playing time in the pipes between Tulsa transfer Matt Karasinski, Pumas U-20 Academy standout Samuel Lechuga and NCFC Elite product Peter Gilder will compete for the job this year. All three enrolled at CU last January and participated in the spring season.
 
TEXAS HOMECOMING ON THE HORIZON:  Campbell opens its season Aug. 24-26 in the SMU Tournament, which will mark a homecoming for seven Fighting Camels, who hail from the Lone Star State.  Matt Karasinski (Parker/FC Dallas Academy), Jalen James (Grand Prairie/FC Dallas Academy), Alex Egeonu (Dallas/Dallas Texans Academy), Adrian Morales (Midland/FC Dallas Academy), Humberto Chavez (Dallas/Dallas Texans Academy) and Dylan Sadler (Dallas/FC Dallas) all hail from the Metroplex, while Luka Lazarevic (Richmond/Huskies Academy) is a Houston-area product.
 
HOME OPENER SEPT. 1: Campbell hosts former league rival Belmont on Sat., Sept. 1 in the Fighting Camels' home opener. The teams were rivals during Campbell's days as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference membership (1994-2011) before Belmont left to join the Ohio Valley Conference and CU returned to the Big South.