Signing Day for Michael Coles.

 

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — Scroll down the St. Andrews University men’s soccer roster, and 11 of the first 12 players are from Italy, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Ecuador and Kenya.

The 12th is from Seattle.

The beautiful game is an international game even at a small, rural school in eastern North Carolina. Not a lot of North Carolina teens get recruited out of high school, but South Rowan senior Michael Coles was pursued by St. Andrews.

Located in Laurinburg, St. Andrews has an enrollment of about 800 students. The Knights compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, known as NAIA. They were 7-8-2 in 2024. They’ll get the 2025 season started in August.

Assistant coach Rashawn Hamilton led the recruiting effort to sign Coles, a solid student who scored 62 goals in his four varsity seasons and added 16 assists.

Rowan County Co-Player of the Year as a senior, Coles plans an exercise science major.

“St. Andrews showed me more interest than any other school,” Coles said. “I went there and I liked the campus and felt comfortable with the team and coaches. I made a decision around Christmas that St. Andrews was the school where I wanted to go.”

Surrounded by family and teammates — Coles always gave credit to his teammates for his goals — Coles signed recently with the Knights in South Rowan’s media center.

“I always appreciated the support of the Coles family,” said Tim Hopkins, South’s soccer coach. “They supported not only Michael but the South program. His dad was at every game, and sometimes he was there before we started warmups. He was always happy to contribute anything we requested.”

Coles’ father recognized right away that his son had a gift for soccer, and Michael sensed it too. He tried football and basketball, but he began focusing on soccer early, competing for Lake Norman and Charlotte club teams with and against advanced players.

During his high school career, Coles, a 5-foot-11, 155-pound forward,  made a steady progression from 10 goals as a freshman, to 16 as a sophomore, 17 as a junior and 19 as a senior.

“Michael is one of those special players who is always around the ball, can always find the ball and often finds himself in great position to score,” Hopkins said. “He was right where we needed him to be a lot of times this season, and he has that knack for finding the back of the net.”

That was never more true than in a September match with Carson. Coles scored all three South goals in a 3-2 victory. In a comeback win against Central Cabarrus, Coles scored twice. When South got down 3-0 against North Rowan, Coles converted the PK that triggered the comeback. He scored another goal and the Raiders managed a 3-all tie.

“He scored a lot of very important goals for South Rowan,” Hopkins said.