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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 16 Virginia men’s soccer team will play twice this weekend as it travels to the Hilton Garden Hokie Invitational, hosted at Thompson Field in Blacksburg by Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers will battle Cincinnati at 5 p.m. Friday and Wisconsin at noon Sunday. Live statistics for both contests will be available at VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia (1-1-0) comes off a strong performance Monday night in reeling off a 7-1 win over Richmond at Klöckner Stadium. UVa scored four goals in a nine-minute span in the first half, then tallied three goals in a 12-minute period of the second half.

Will Bates scored a pair of goals and dished out two assists for Virginia as he tied a career high with his six-point effort. UVa received goals from six others in rolling to the win.

True freshman Spencer LaCivita earned his first career win in goal after stopping four shots. LaCivita was one of five UVa freshmen in the starting lineup and one of 11 who saw 10 or more minutes of action Monday.

Eleven true freshmen have earned playing time in the first two games – nearly twice as many as any other ACC program this year (Clemson is second with six freshmen). Six of these freshmen have started at least one game, also the most among ACC programs this year. (LaCivita, Chris Somerville, Ryan Zinkhan, Kyler Sullivan, Eric Bird, Grant Silvester). UVa’s freshmen have accounted for 848 minutes this year – nearly half of the total minutes available.

Virginia boasts a 1-0 series edge against both Cincinnati and Wisconsin. The Cavaliers topped Cincinnati, 1-0, on Sept. 10, 2004, at the Saint Louis Nike Classic.

UVa will play Wisconsin for the first time in the regular season; the Cavaliers downed the Badgers, 3-0, on Nov. 28, 1993, in the NCAA quarterfinals in Charlottesville en route to their third of four straight NCAA titles. UVa has not played a team from the Big Ten Conference since dropping a 4-2 decision to Penn State on Sept. 8, 2002, in the FILA/Maryland Classic.

Cincinnati (1-0-0) topped Western Michigan, 3-1, last Saturday in its season opener in Kalamazoo, Mich. Despite playing a man down for the final 31 minutes, the Bearcats scored a pair of goals – both in the 80th minute – to break a 1-all tie in getting the win. UC finished 7-5-7 last season and took second place in the Big East’s Red Division.

Wisconsin (1-0-0) picked up a 1-0 win over Western Illinois last Saturday in the season opener at home. Sophomore Chris Prince, senior Josh Thiermann and junior Tomislav Zadro were named to the Big Ten’s Players to Watch list prior to the season. Prince finished the 2010 season with a team-best seven goals and 14 points last year when the Badgers went 4-13-3.

Virginia opens ACC play at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 at Duke. The game will be televised nationally by the FOX Soccer Channel.

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