No. 4 Men's Soccer Takes on Connecticut

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Aug. 25, 1998

Virginia’s men’s soccer squad faces off against Connecticut in exhibition play on August 26 at 7:00p.m. at Kloeckner Stadium. The Cavaliers and the Huskies have met twice before, with the series being tied at 1-1-0. The schools first met on Oct. 18, 1980, with top-ranked Connecticut posting a 4-0 victory in Storrs. The second game came on Sept. 5, 1993, with No. 1 Virginia winning 5-1 during the Coca-Cola Classic at Kloeckner Stadium. Claudio Reyna scored two goals for the Cavaliers in that win, while Mike Fisher had a goal and two assists and Mike Slivinski added a goal and an assist.

WARMING UP: The game with Connecticut is the second of two exhibition games for the Cavaliers this season. UVa defeated St. Johns 2-0 on Sunday in its first preseason contest. 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 mens 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).

ODONNELL IMPRESSIVE IN OPENER: Junior midfielder Drew ODonnell started on the right flank for the Cavaliers in the first exhibition game against St. Johns and responded with a goal and an assist. ODonnells goal was the game winner, when he took a pass from Ryan Trout in the right corner and dribbled into the penalty box before his cross deflected off a defender and into the net. He later assisted on Sheldon Barnes goal, feeding Jason Moore at the top left corner of the box before Moores cross was headed in by Barnes. Last season ODonnell played in 19 games, starting four times, and totaled two goals and three assists.

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.

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. (UVa has also won both night exhibition games it has played at Kloeckner, downing William & Mary 4-0 last season and St. Johns 2-0 this year.)

BARNES LOOKS TO BOLSTER OFFENSE: With three of last years top four scorers gone, the Cavaliers knew they would need to find some offensive fire power this season. In the game against St. Johns, freshman forward Sheldon Barnes showed he is ready to shoulder some of the scoring responsibilities. Barnes scored Virginias second goal against the Red Storm, heading in a cross by Jason Moore from eight yards out at the right post. Last year, Barnes was the Florida state Player of the Year, while earning high school All-America honors from both Parade and the NSCAA.

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.

NINE CAVALIERS NAMED TO 1997-98 ACC ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL: The UVa mens 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.