BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell begins defense of its Big South Championship Wednesday when the regular season champ and top-seeded Fighting Camels (14-2-2) host fifth-seeded Presbyterian (6-12-1) in the semifinal round at 7:00 p.m.  The Camels, who claimed their first conference regular season title since winning the 2009 Atlantic Sun crown, received a first-round bye in the six-team Big South Championship.  Presbyterian won 2-1 in double overtime on Sunday at fourth-seeded Winthrop.
 
LAST TIME OUT: CAMPBELL - won 2-1 at High Point on Nov. 2 to earn the Big South regular season title.  Alex Egeonu and Ian Rees scored first-half goals and Samuel Lechuga made a pair of key saves in the second half for the Camels, who finished with a 17-9 advantage in shots... PRESBYTERIAN - rallied for a 2-1 victory in the second overtime Sunday at fourth-seeded Winthrop in the Big South first round. Just over six minutes after conceding a 7th minute goal to the Eagles, Riccardo Turcis equalized for PC.  However, neither team could score again until Brett Wilson headed in a rebound from Hunter Del Valle's shot in the 103rd minute to send PC to the Big South semis for the fourth-straight season.
 
WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE:  Campbell and Presbyterian are meeting in the Big South Championship for the third-straight year.  In 2017, the six-seeded Blue Hose eliminated the third-seeded Camels 2-1 in the first round at Buies Creek on the way to winning their only Big South title.  Last year at Clinton, S.C., Gideon Betz scored the game's lone goal in the 99th minute to lift the fourth-seeded Camels over the third-seeded Blue Hose in the title match and to Campbell's first NCAA College Cup appearance in 11 years.
 
CAMELS SWEEP BIG SOUTH INDIVIDUAL HONORS:  Campbell became the first Big South Conference team to sweep all five individual season awards since the player of the year honor was divided into attacking and defensive categories in 2011.  Dustin Fonder was named Coach of the Year, Thibaut Jacquel Attacking Player of the Year, Gideon Betz Defensive Player of the Year and Moses Mensah Freshman of the Year in voting by league head coaches.  In addition, Betz earned a second-straight Scholar-Athlete of the Year award in voting by league sports information contacts.
 
11 CAMELS EARN ALL-LEAGUE RECOGNITION:  Led by six first-team members, Campbell placed 11 on the 2019 Big South all-conference teams.  Forward Thibaut Jacquel and midfielder Ian Rees were joined by the starting back four - Gideon Betz, Bissafi Dotte, Moses Mensah and Franck Momo on the first team.  Midfielder Matt Lock and goalkeeper Samuel Lechuga were second-team choices, while midfielder Alemu Mercer-Miko was an honorable mention selection.  Fowards Jalen James and Adrian Morales joined Dotte and Mensah on the all-freshman team.
 
HOME, SWEET HOME: Campbell is undefeated (8-0-1), has outscored its opponents 27-2 at home and has not trailed in a match at the Eakes Complex this year.
 
NATIONALLY-RANKED TEAM:  Campbell stands 29th in this week's College Soccer News Top-30 poll after entering the rating at 30th on Nov. 4.  Last week's listing marked Campbell's first national ranking since the 2008 campaign... Campbell stands T10th nationally in won-lost-tied percentage (.833) and is T5th in total wins (14).
 
NATIONALLY-RANKED ATTACK:  As a team, the Camels rate 3rd in the nation in goals per game (2.72), total goals (49) and points (137), 4th in corners per game (7.22) and 11th in total assists (39).  All of those marks are tops among Big South teams.
 
NATIONALLY-RANKED DEFENSE: Campbell's defense ranks 12th in the nation in goals-against average (0.698) and T13th in shutouts (9)... CU has allowed only six goals in the first half this season (13 total)... Senior Gideon Betz partners with three newcomers - freshmen Bissafi Dotte and Moses Mensah and sophomore Franck Momo - in the starting back four.... GK Samuel Lechuga leads the Big South and ranks T10th nationally in shutouts (8), while standing 18th in the country in goals-against average (0.72).
 
SOUTH REGION RANKINGS (11/11/19): 1. Clemson (15-1-1), 2. Virginia (15-1-1), 3. Wake Forest (13-3-2), 4. Virginia Tech (9-5-3), 5. Pittsburgh (9-6-2), 6. NC State (9-6-3), 7. Campbell (14-2-2), 8. Notre Dame (10-7-1), 9. Louisville (8-7-2), 10. Syracuse (6-6-5).
 
JACQUEL AMONG COUNTRY'S TOP SCORERS:  With 15 goals through 17 matches, junior forward Thibaut Jacquel ranks 5th among national goal scoring leaders.  Jacquel's 35 points are 7th-most of any Division I player in the country, and he is also tied for 8th with 5 game-winning goals... He has at least one point in 9 of Campbell's last 12 matches with 5 multi-goal outings and 13 strikes total in the span. He tallied his first collegiate hat trick Oct. 12 at Presbyterian.
 
GREAT START:  Campbell's 14-2-2 record (.833) through 17 matches is the program's best since the 1993 squad started 15-3 (.833) on the way to a Big South regular season title... Campbell's current 12-match unbeated streak (11-0-1) is the longest undefeated span in 5 seasons under head coach Dustin Fonder and the program's best since the 2008 squad reeled off 12-straight victories to reach the A-Sun final.
 
BIG SOUTH NUMBERS:  The Camels out-scored their eight Big South regular season opponents by a 33-6 margin and averaged 4.12 goals while allowing 0.75 per outing in league play... In Big South play, three of the top four goal scorers (1. Thibaut Jacquel - 8, T2. Alex Egeonu - 6, T4. Eren Elbustu - 4) wear the Orange & Black... In addition to Jacquel topping the league in overall goals, points and game-winners, Matt Lock is 5th in points (15), while Elbustu is 6th (14) and Egeonu T7th (13)... Lock is 2nd among Big South assists leaders (7), Alemu Mercer-Miko and Jacquel are T6th (5), while Ian Rees and Franck Momo are T9th (4)... Over their last six league outings, the Camels own a 30-5 goal differential and have won those contests by 2-, 4-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 1-goal margins.
 
PLAYING IN FRONT: Campbell has not trailed in its last 585 minutes of action - a span of more than six complete matches.  The last time the Camels fell behind their opponent was in the 15th minute at Winthrop on Oct. 9.  Thibaut Jacquel equalized in the 65th, then Alex Egeonu (78) and Dylan Sadler (81) added goals in a 3-1 victory.  Since that night, the Camels have not trailed in six matches - at Presbyterian (6-2), Gardner-Webb (4-0), at UNC Asheville (7-1), vs. North Carolina (1-1), vs. Longwood (8-0) and at High Point (2-1).
 
CAMELS IN THE BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Campbell won the first two Big South Conference tournament championships in 1984 and 1985, and also won back-to-back crowns in 1991 and 1992 before claiming the 2018 title.  CU was runner-up in 1986, 1989 and 1993 before leaving for a 17-year stint in the Atlantic Sun.  Overall, the Camels are 20-11-4 in Big South Championship play, including a 3-4-3 mark since re-joining the league in 2011. 
Before its 2018 run to the Big South crown, CU last reached a conference final in 2008 while a member of the A-Sun and its previous league tournament title came in 2007 over Jacksonville (1-1 draw, 5-4 PKs).
 
PRESBYTERIAN PREVIEW: After winning the 2017 title as the 6th seed and reached the 2018 final as the 3rd seed, this year's 5th-seeded Blue Hose have reached the semifinals for the 4th-straight year under head coach Jonathan Potter... Red-shirt freshman defender Cesar Sancho was a first-team all-conference choice, while senior midfielder Sergio Pinto and junior defender Luca Ziegler were second-team selections... Sancho scored both goals on headers against the Camels on Oct. 12... He leads the team with 6 goals, while Pinto has 5 adn Riccardo Turcis 4... Valentin Kliebe has played all by 155 minutes in the nets this year and owns a 1.88 goals-against average with 1 shutout... Since opening the year with 7-straight losses, PC stands 6-5-1 and has scored in 12-straight contests... Five of Presbyterian's last six matches have gone into extra time... PC is 3-3-1 in OT this year.
 
SERIES HISTORY:  Following last month's 6-2 victory at Clinton, S.C., Campbell owns a 6-5 edge in the series that began in 2011 when the Camels re-joined the Big South Conference.  Gideon Betz scored the game's lone goal in OT last Nov. 11 at Clinton, S.C., to lift Campbell over Presbyterian in the 2018 Big South final.  In the only other match-up between the schools in the league tournament, PC defeated Campbell 2-1 in the 2017 quarterfinals on the way to the Blue Hose's first Big South title and NCAA College Cup berth.