The Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer team represent the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in all

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

men's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competitions. The

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

are a member of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. Virginia has an extensive reputation as one of the most elite collegiate soccer programs of the United States. The program has produced several prominent United States national team players such as

Claudio Reyna Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and current executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC. A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Europe, pla ...

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in the ...

, Jeff Agoos,

Ben Olsen Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, Association football, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the Nationa ...

, and

Tony Meola Antonio Michael "Tony" Meola (; ; born February 21, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the United States national team at the 1990, 1994, and 2002 World Cups. From 1996 to 2006, he ...

. Future U.S. national team coach

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

coached Virginia to five College Cup titles in a six-year period during the 1980s and 1990s, and his protégé

George Gelnovatch George Gelnovatch (born February 12, 1965) is the men's soccer coach at the University of Virginia. He played professionally in the MISL I, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Professional Soccer League. As head coach, he has led Virginia Cava ...

has since guided the Cavaliers to six College Cups and four championship games, winning two of them. The Cavaliers made the College Cup tournament bracket for a record 39 consecutive years, which ended in 2020, the most of any team in the history of the sport. The program has won seven NCAA Championships (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2009, 2014) and have the most national titles of any program since 1990. Virginia ranks third overall in the sport's championship history since 1959.

History

The University of Virginia first fielded a varsity men's soccer team in 1941 as a member of the

Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association The NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, national champions were selected by a committee of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (ISFA) ba ...

. In their first season, the team posted a winless record, losing all nine of their matches. The

added soccer in 1955, followed by the first

NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champi ...

in 1959. The team made their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1969.

became Virginia's soccer and assistant

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

coach in 1978, moving exclusively to soccer in 1985. The Cavaliers' first tournament victory, over

William and Mary William and Mary often refers to: * The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland) * William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple William and Mary may ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

(a team featuring future comedian

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

), sparked a run to their first College Cup appearance. The Cavaliers have qualified for the NCAA tournament every year since 1981; those 39 appearances are a record for men's soccer and one of the longest streaks in any NCAA sport. Their apex came in the late 1980s to early 1990s under Arena, when the team won five national collegiate championships in the span of six years. Future U.S. men's national team stars such as

and

were members of these championship teams. Virginia's first championship, in 1989, came in one of the most famous games in the history of college soccer. Played at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

on December 3 against Santa Clara, the

wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

was ten degrees below zero at kickoff and fell further during the game. Virginia led the defensive slugfest 1–0 before a rare mistake from

Curt Onalfo Curt Onalfo (born November 19, 1969) is an American former soccer player and coach who currently serves as technical director of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. As a player, he played two seasons in France, two in the USISL, on ...

in the 84th minute allowed Santa Clara to send the game to overtime. As NCAA rules had recently changed to limit games to one 30-minute overtime followed by a 30-minute sudden-death period – after the 1985 final required eight 10-minute extra periods – and did not allow penalty kicks in the final, Virginia and Santa Clara were declared co-champions when the game remained tied 1–1 after 150 minutes. The Cavaliers went on to win the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

editions of the tournament, and as the first overall seed were upset in the semifinals in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. The four consecutive championships remains an NCAA record; no other team managed even three in a row until

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

did so in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Arena departed for the new men's professional league

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

in 1996, where he led

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

to three

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

titles, two Supporters' Shields and a

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

title. He was replaced by longtime assistant

, who remains the coach today. Gelnovatch returned the team to the 1997 final, where they lost 2–0 to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. After a string of early-round exits in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the team returned to the College Cup in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and the national championship game in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Playing against the upstart

Akron Zips Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city pr ...

that year, the Cavaliers were able to prevail in a penalty kick shootout to claim their sixth NCAA title, and their first national championship since the Arena years. Virginia added a seventh NCAA championship by defeating UCLA in a shootout in the 2014 tournament.

Roster

Current roster

Stadium

One of the earliest

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

s in college soccer, the Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer team plays their home matches at the 8,000-seater

Klöckner Stadium Klöckner Stadium is a multi-purpose sports stadium located on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The stadium is home to the Virginia Cavaliers's Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer, men's and Virginia Cavaliers wome ...

. Since its opening in 1997, the Cavaliers have enjoyed some of the highest reported attendance figures in American college soccer. The stadium has 3,600 grandstand seats along with an additional 3,400 grass seats. It is shared with the

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national ...

team, as well as the men's and

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

teams.

Rivalries

Maryland

Both UVA and Maryland have NCAA Championship programs in men's soccer. The Virginia Cavaliers have won seven NCAA Championships to Maryland's four. When they were both in the

, some cited the rivalry between the Cavaliers and the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

as one of the most bitter rivalries in college soccer. In 2011, FirstPoint USA rated the rivalry as the third best rivalry in college soccer. The Terrapins' departure to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

has put the annual rivalry on hiatus. Maryland recorded a 1–0 victory in the 2015 NCAA tournament and No. 12 Virginia dethroned No. 1 Maryland, 2–0, in a regular season game on September 2, 2019, helping Virginia to take over the No. 1 ranking weeks later.

Virginia Tech

As intra-conference members, and having a longstanding rivalry, another one of the top rivals of the Virginia Cavaliers is the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 va ...

. The series between the two has been heavily dominated by the Cavaliers, who boast a 31–2–5 record and 14-match unbeaten streak against the Hokies.

Team management

Coaching staff

Updated February 21, 2021

Head coaching history

Seasons

Source
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Honors

* ACC Men's Soccer Tournament ** Winners (11): 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2019 ** Runners-up (8): 1990, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2017 * Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC Regular Season ** First Place (19): 1969, 1970, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2019 ** Runners-up (8): 1956, 1957, 1963, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2016 * College Cup ** Winners (7): 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994,

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** Runners-up (2): 1997,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Commonwealth Clash ** Winners (31): 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 ** Runners-up (2): 2004, 2005 * Virginia Intercollegiate Soccer Association Tournament ** Winners (9): 1961, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1984 ** Runners-up (3): 1964, 1967, 1971

Notable alumni

* Jeff Agoos ^*, Swiss-born American soccer defender * Chris Albright ^* * Joe Bell ^*, New Zealand international currently with

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

Jeff Causey Jeff Causey (born October 19, 1971 in Manassas, Virginia) is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who spent six seasons in Major League Soccer. He later served as an assistant coach at the collegiate and professional levels. College soccer Caus ...

Matt Chulis Matt Chulis (born August 29, 1977 in Central Islip, New York) is a retired U.S. soccer defender who is currently associate head coach with the University of Virginia men's soccer team. He was the captain of the U.S. U-20 national team at the ...

, associate head coach of Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer *

Nico Colaluca Nicolas "Nico" Colaluca (born May 23, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. Career Youth and college Born in Providence, Rhode Island, he attended La Salle Academy in Providence. Colaluca played coll ...

Adam Cristman Adam Cristman (born January 8, 1985) is an American retired soccer player. Career Youth and college Cristman graduated from Mills Godwin High School in Richmond, Virginia, where as a senior in 2003 he helped seal a perfect 22–0–0 record fo ...

* Daryl Dike ^* Currently with Orlando City on loan to EFL team

Barnsley FC Barnsley Football Club is a professional football club based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in . Nicknamed "the Tykes", they were founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Preedy and moved into Oakwell stadium the following ...

^*, head coach of

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

Hunter Jumper Hunter Jumper (born February 28, 1989) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender for National Premier Soccer League club Georgia Storm. College career Jumper played his collegiate career at Virginia. During his four years with the ...

, currently with the Chicago Fire * Ross LaBauex *

^*, head coach/technical director of

Jacksonville Armada Jacksonville Armada FC is an American professional soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They most recently played in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid, during the 2018 season while ...

, head coach of Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer *

Erik Imler Erik Bradley Imler (born June 1, 1971 in Silver Spring, Maryland) is an American soccer coach and former player. He won national championships while playing at the University of Virginia before becoming part of the US team that competed at th ...

^* *

Clint Peay Clint Peay (born September 16, 1973 in Columbia, Maryland) is an American soccer coach and former player. He was a regular on the U.S. junior national teams and U.S. Olympic team in the mid-1990s. He also spent several years with D.C. United in ...

, former head coach of

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

men's soccer * Brandon Pollard *

Diego Restrepo Diego Alejandro Restrepo Garcia (born February 25, 1988) is a Colombian-American football coach and former football player who played as a goalkeeper. Currently, he is the Head of Goalkeeping for D.C. United, a Major League Soccer franchise. P ...

, currently with

Metropolitanos FC Metropolitanos Fútbol Club is a Venezuelan professional football club based in Caracas. Founded in 2012, they play in the Venezuelan Primera División, holding home matches at the Estadio Olímpico de la UCV. History Founded on 3 August 2012 ...

^* *

Jake Rozhansky Jake Michael Rozhansky ( he, ג'ייק מייקל רוזנסקי, born 4 July 1996) is an American soccer player who plays as a midfielder for MLS Next Pro side New England Revolution II. During his career, he has previously appeared for D.C. ...

(born 1996), American-Israeli soccer player *

Damian Silvera Damian Troy Silvera (July 27, 1974 – June 14, 2010) was an American soccer player who was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic soccer team. He also spent a season and a half in Major League Soccer. Youth and college Silvera grew up in Huntingt ...

Bakary Soumare Bakary is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Abubakar Khamis Bakary, Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Tanzania * Bakary Diakité (born 1980), Malian footballer of part German descent currently playing for FSV Fran ...

, currently with the Chicago Fire ^* *

^*, head coach of

* Jason Moore * Kyle Martino ^*, soccer analyst for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

Alecko Eskandarian Alecko Eskandarian (born July 9, 1982) is an iranian American retired soccer player,He is the son of Andranik Eskandrian, a former player of the Iranian national team and the Esteghlal team . He is a former assistant coach for New York Cosmos ...

^*, head coach of

New York Cosmos B New York Cosmos B were an American soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that played in the National Premier Soccer League, the fourth tier of the United States soccer league system, as the reserve team of New York Cosmos. History T ...

* Hunter Freeman, currently with the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

Tony Tchani Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby lea ...

, currently with the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

* A.J. Wood ^* – Player has represented their country at the senior national team level

Notes

References

;General * ''NCAA results and statistics sourced to'': * ''ACC tournament results and statistics sourced to'': ;Citations

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Virginia Cavaliers, color=white , list = {{University of Virginia {{ACC men's soccer teams {{Virginia college men's soccer teams 1941 establishments in Virginia Association football clubs established in 1941