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Aug. 21, 1998

THE GAME: St. John’s at Virginia (preseason exhibition) – August 23, 1998 – 7:00 p.m.

THE SERIES WITH ST. JOHN’S: The Cavaliers and the Red Storm have met only once before, with Virginia posting a 2-0 victory during the 1994 Coca-Cola Classic. Nate Friends scored the game-winning goal and added an assist on a score by Mike Fisher, while Yuri Sagatov made five saves and recorded a shutout in goal. St. John’s has played at Klckner Stadium on one other occasion, posting a 2-0 win against the University of Richmond in an exhibition game last season.

WARMING UP: The game with St. John’s is the first of two exhibition games for the Cavaliers this season. UVa will also face Connecticut at Klckner Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 7:00 p.m. Virginia played two exhibition games last year, defeating UNC Charlotte 2-1 and downing William & Mary 4-0. In the win over UNC Charlotte, Matt Leonard and Mike McQuatters both had a goal and an assist for the Cavaliers. Against William & Mary Leonard scored two goals, while Ryan Trout had a goal and an assist and Billy Petersen added a score. Virginia played only one exhibition game in 1996, falling at Rutgers 1-0. In 1995, the Cavaliers tied Saint Louis 1-1 and defeated Richmond 2-1 in its two exhibition games, which were both played on the road.

CHULIS AND MOORE NAMED HERMANN TROPHY FINALISTS: Senior defender Matt Chulis and sophomore midfielder Jason Moore are among the 15 finalists who have been named for the 32nd annual Hermann Trophy. Chulis and Moore made Virginia one of only four schools to have more than one finalist, along with Duke, Indiana and UCLA. The winner of the Hermann Trophy will be announced on Dec. 12 in Richmond, Va. If either Chulis or Moore wins the award he would be the fourth player in school history to receive the honor, along with Tony Meola (1989), Claudio Reyna (1993) and Mike Fisher (1995 and 1996).

ALBRIGHT STARS FOR UNDER-20 NATIONAL TEAM: Sophomore forward Chris Albright scored four goals and one assist in three games as the United States under-20 team finished in first place in CONCACAF qualifying, held in Trinidad earlier this month. Albright scored two goals in a 5-1 victory over Canada, then added two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win against Trinidad & Tobago. In both contests, Albright scored the first goal of the game. The U.S. played Costa Rica to a 1-1 tie in its other game. By finishing with their 2-0-1 record, the Americans earn a spot in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, to be played in Nigeria next April.

GELNOVATCH LOOKS TO REACH 50 WINS IN 1998: UVa third year head coach George Gelnovatch has led the Cavaliers to successful campaigns in each of his first two seasons, with Virginia posting an overall record of 35-7-6 for a .792 winning percentage during his tenure. With 15 wins this season, Gelnovatch can become the first men’s soccer coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history to record 50 victories in his first three seasons. He also has a chance to become the first ACC coach to reach 50 wins before he has 10 losses. After two years, Gelnovatch already ranks third all-time at UVa in career wins, behind Bruce Arena (295) and Eugene Corrigan (39).

TWO CAVALIERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Senior defender Matt Chulis and sophomore forward Chris Albright have both been named to the Soccer America preseason All-America teams. Chulis, a first team selection, has earned second team All-America and first team All-ACC honors each of the last two seasons. Albright, a second team selection, was named to the Soccer America National All-Freshman team and the All-ACC Tournament team last season. Virginia was one of only four schools to have more than one player named to the squads.

VIRGINIA IN THE POLLS: Virginia enters the 1998 season ranked No. 4 in the nation by Soccer America and No. 2 by the NSCAA (Soccer News has not yet released its preseason poll). Since the beginning of the 1984 season, the Cavaliers have been the top-ranked team in 69 of 161 Soccer America polls and 55 of 153 NSCAA polls (formerly the ISAA poll). Overall, Virginia has now been ranked in 164 consecutive NSCAA polls dating back to September of 1983 and 161 consecutive Soccer America polls, since September of 1984. The Cavaliers were one of only nine teams to be ranked in every poll last season.

CLEANING HOUSE AT KLOECKNER: The Cavaliers are now in their seventh season of play at Kloeckner Stadium. Virginia has an all-time record of 80-7-4 (.901) at Kloeckner, including a 12-0-2 mark last year. The Cavaliers had a school record home unbeaten streak of 34 games, which were all played at Kloeckner, from Oct. 29, 1994 to Nov. 15, 1996. The $3.4-million facility offers seating for approximately 3,600 fans in the grandstand, while hillside seating is available for another 3,000. Prior to the 1995 season lights were installed, allowing the Cavaliers to play night games. UVa has a perfect 21-0-0 record under the lights. (Virginia also posted a 4-0 over William & Mary last season in the only night exhibition game it has played at Kloeckner.)

THE DYNASTY: Since 1989, UVa has won five NCAA titles (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals seven times, and compiled an overall record of 173-25-20 (.839). From the beginning of the 1991 season until now, Virginia has lost just 17 games, going 140-17-12 (.864), including 94-8-5 (.902) against teams from outside the ACC. In the last eight years, UVa has won six ACC Championships and had five National Players of the Year.THE ALL-AMERICAN TEAM: Once again last season, a number of Cavaliers were selected as All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA).

Three UVa players were selected to the teams, tying Virginia with Indiana for the most selections last year. Ben Olsen earned first team All-America honors, Matt Chulis was a second team selection for the second year in a row, and Scott Vermillion earned third team honors. Virginia has now had at least two NSCAA All-America selections each of the last seven years, while having at least one first team choice for the 13 straight season.

CAVALIERS PLACE FOUR ON ALL-ACC TEAMS: Four Virginia players were named to the 1997 All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with all four being first team selections. Matt Chulis, Ben Olsen and Scott Vermillion were all named to the first team for the second consecutive season, while Brian West earned All-ACC honors for the first time. Other than Virginia, the only other schools to place more than one player on the first team were Duke and Maryland with two each. Virginia has now had at least four players earn All-ACC honors for seven consecutive seasons.

NINE CAVALIERS NAMED TO 1997-98 ACC ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL: The UVa men’s soccer team placed nine players on the 1997-98 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. The list is comprised of all athletes in the conference who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year. Current players Matt Chulis, Mike Feller, Sam Franklin and Billy Petersen were all named to the Honor Roll, along with departed seniors Matt Laughlin, Matt Leonard, Yuri Sagatov, Andriy Shapowal and Joaquin Targhetta. Overall, Virginia had 240 student athletes named to the Honor Roll.

VIRGINIA CLAIMS ACC TOURNAMENT AND REGULAR SEASON TITLES: The Cavaliers won three straight games to win the ACC Tournament last season for the seventh time. In the 11 year history of the ACC Tournament, which began in 1987, Virginia remains the only school to win the title more than once. Overall, the Cavaliers have an all-time record of 17-4-3 in ACC Tournament games, winning titles in 1988, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95 and ’97. Virginia also tied for the 1997 ACC regular season title with Duke and North Carolina State, posting a 3-1-2 (.667) mark in conference games.

That marked the 13th time the Cavaliers won the ACC regular season title, but the first time UVa has finished in a tie for first. The only school with more regular season ACC championships than Virginia is Maryland with 17, while Clemson has also won 13 titles. The Cavaliers previous ACC regular season titles came in 1969, ’70, ’83, ’84, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’91, ’92, ’95 and ’96.

THE HONOR ROLL: Since 1978, 19 UVa players have been named All-Americans, including 11 first-team selections. Five have left UVa as two-time All-Americans, three as three-time All-Americans and one (Jeff Agoos, 1986-90) as a four-time All-American. In addition, over the past 12 seasons UVa has produced 38 first-team all-ACC selections, 18 more than any other ACC school.

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