No. 16 Virginia Heads to Pitt for Friday Night Match

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Oct. 20, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ââ’¬” The No. 16 Virginia men’s soccer team travels to Pitt on Friday night for a 7 p.m. clash with the Panthers at Ambrose Urbanic Field in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Panthers’ Senior Night match marks the final regular-season road contest for the Cavaliers, who are unbeaten in their last seven matches.

Live Video/Stats
The match will stream live on ACC Network Extra, which is available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN3 through WatchESPN and the ESPN app. A link to live statistics can be located at VirginiaSports.com. In-game updates will be provided on the UVA Men’s Soccer Twitter account, @UVAMenSoccer.

Records
Virginia: 8-2-4 (2-2-2 ACC)
Pitt: 2-11-2 (0-5-1 ACC)

Virginia-Pitt Series
Virginia is 5-0 all-time against Pitt, including a 3-0 mark since the Panthers entered the ACC. UVA downed the Panthers 3-1 last season in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers have outscored Pitt 16-1 in their previous meetings.

Noting the Seven-Game Unbeaten Streak
Virginia is unbeaten in its last seven matches, dating to a defeat at Louisville on Sept. 24. It is UVA’s longest unbeaten streak since an 11-match stretch from Sept. 17 to Oct. 29, 2013.

During this streak, UVA has outscored its foes 12-2 while going 5-0-2. UVA has recorded five clean sheets during the run.

The stretch has featured top competition, with five of the seven matches coming against teams currently in the RPI top-50.

Cavaliers Move Up in RPI
UVA moved up to No. 8 in the latest NCAA RPI. Of UVA’s 14 games to this point this season, 10 have come against top-50 RPI teams. Pitt is No. 175 in the latest RPI.

Caldwell, Opoku Sweep ACC Honors
Virginia’s Jeff Caldwell and Edward Opoku swept the ACC weekly honors this week, with Caldwell claiming defensive player of the week laurels for the third straight week and Opoku earning offensive honors for the first time. Caldwell matched a career high with seven saves in UVA’s 1-0 win over Notre Dame, while Opoku scored the game-winning goal in that match.

Big Wins Over Top-5 Teams
With consecutive ACC wins over then-No. 4 North Carolina and then-No. 2 Notre Dame, UVA scored back-to-back wins over top-five ACC opponents for the first time since Sept. 13 and 21, 2003, when it picked up a 2-1 win over No. 3 Wake Forest and a 1-0 victory over No. 4 UNC, respectively. UVA’s first six ACC opponents this year are ranked among the national top 25.

First Game on Turf
Virginia will play on FieldTurf for the first time this season on Friday. UVA has not played on an artificial surface since Oct. 9, 2015, at Boston College.

Last Year vs. Pitt
Wesley Wade scored a pair of goals and Edward Opoku added another as UVA scored three unanswered goals in a 3-1 win over Pitt last season (Oct. 16) in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers dominated the run of play throughout, but trailed at the half and did not cash in for their first goal until Opoku’s 47th-minute score.

Noting Pitt
Under first-year head coach Jay Vidovich, Pitt has struggled to score this year and is goalless during its current six-match losing streak. Luca Mellor owns three of the team’s nine scores this year. Goalkeeper Mikal Outcalt has made an ACC-best 84 saves this year and Pitt has been tough on which to score, allowing 1.4 goals per game despite surrendering a league-high 222 shots.

Up Next
Virginia returns home next Friday (Oct. 28) for the regular-season finale against Duke. Prior to the match, UVA will honor seven fourth-year student-athletes in Senior Night ceremonies.