Virginia Continues Home Stand Thursday against Hofstra

Aug. 30, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 12 Virginia (1-0) will square off against Hofstra (1-1) on Thursday night at Klöckner Stadium. The match will be the first game of a doubleheader with the women beginning at 6 p.m.

Game Coverage: The contest will air on ACC Network Extra, which is available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN3 through WatchESPN and the ESPN app. will be available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get in-game updates on the men’s soccer official twitter feed (@UVAMenSoccer).

Promotions:

• Due to the women’s game scheduled for 8 p.m. on Thursday (Aug. 31), postgame autographs will not be available. Postgame autographs will continue for all games beginning on Monday, September 4 against UNCW.

Series History

• Thursday night’s match will be the third meeting between Hofstra and Virginia. The Cavaliers hold a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series
• The Cavaliers won the 2016 meeting, 1-0 in Charlottesville on an Edward Opoku goal in the 79^th minute. Current Cavaliers Daniel Barir and Jean-Christophe Koffi were credited with assists on the game-winner.
• Virginia won the first meeting between the two programs back in 2008, a 4-2 victory in Charlottesville.

Historic Season-Opening Victory

• Sergi Nus scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in the 105^th minute to give Virginia a 3-2 win over Villanova last Friday (Aug. 25).
• Head Coach George Gelnovatch secured his 296^th career win, surpassing his predecessor Bruce Arena for the most in Virginia men’s soccer history.
• It marked the 750^th win for the program. Virginia is in its 74^th season of men’s soccer and 26^th at Klöckner Stadium.
• In his first collegiate game, freshman Faris Abdi recorded three points, assisting on the season’s first goal and scoring a go-ahead goal early in the second half.
• Edward Opoku scored for the second-straight season opener and Virginia improved to 9-0 when he finds the back of the net.
• Virginia won its fourth-straight season-opener and improved to 47-24-3 in season-opening games.
• The three goals were the most by Virginia in a season-opener since 2009 when they defeated Portland 3-0.

Virginia Trends

• Virginia goes into Thursday night’s contest unbeaten in the last 17 games at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers haven’t lost at home since a 1-0 setback against American on Oct. 16, 2016
• Dating back to last season, Virginia has played in three-consecutive overtime contests and four of the last seven games have needed extra time.
• The Cavaliers are 2-1-1 in the last four overtime decisions and played eight overtime games during the 2016 season.
• Senior Jeff Caldwell has played and started in goal for the last 41 Virginia games. He has played in 3,715-straight minutes in net for the Cavaliers.

National Rankings

• In the first United Soccer Coaches poll released on Tuesday (Aug. 29), Virginia was one of eight ACC teams ranked in the top-25, coming in at No. 12. Five of the eight schools are ranked in the Top-10 led by Wake Forest at No. 2.
• The Cavaliers were also listed at No. 12 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com top-25 and were No. 8 in the Soccer America national poll.

Milestone Watch

• Caldwell ranks seventh in UVA history with 3,897 goalie minutes played. He played all 105 minutes against Villanova and trails Yuri Sagatov (1994-97) by 51 minutes for sixth all-time.
• Caldwell is ranked sixth all-time in saves (145) and is tied with Tony Meola (1988-89) for 5^th all-time with 17 career shutouts.

Noting Hofstra

• The Pride are in the midst of a four-game stint on the road to begin its 2017 season. The home-opener for Hofstra is set for Sept. 9 against Stony Brook.
• Virginia will be the second-straight ranked opponent on the 2017 slate for the Pride. On Monday night, Hofstra dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 6 Maryland in College Park, Md.
• Hofstra opened up the season with its first ever win over Penn State, a 1-0 decision last Friday in State College, Pa. Senior Danny Elliott’s goal in the seventh minute held and goalkeeper Alex Ashton made five saves in the shutout victory.

Updated Bag Policy

Put into place starting with this weekend’s athletic events (Aug. 25-27), Virginia athletics has updated its bag policies to mirror those already in place for Scott Stadium. At Klöckner Stadium, Turf Field and Memorial Gymnasium the following procedures have been put into effect.

All guests are subject to inspection and search for prohibited items. Event staff will examine the contents of bags, jackets, pockets, or any other personal item before admitting guests to the facility. In order to expedite entrance into the facility, it is recommended that guests not bring bags to events and arrive early at the facility entrances.

Prohibited Items

• Artificial noisemakers^ – see exception below for men’s and women’s soccer games at Klöckner Stadium
• Balls, Frisbees, lacrosse sticks, and similar items
• Containers (including plastic or glass bottles, cans, coolers, or flasks)
• Food and beverages
• Strollers (except umbrella strollers) – prohibited at Scott Stadium only
• Umbrellas – prohibited at Scott Stadium only
• Weapons

^For men’s and women’s soccer matches only, artificial noisemakers are allowed; however air horns, whistles, bullhorns or devices that amplify electric sound, including battery-operated devices, are prohibited.

*The University of Virginia reserves the right to prohibit any item deemed hazardous or disruptive to the athletics event or the enjoyment of the event by other guests.

The above procedures are designed to provide a safe and positive experience for all fans in attendance at Virginia athletics events.