No. 2 Seed Virginia to Host No. 3 Seed Wake Forest in ACC Semifinal
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Second-seeded Virginia (15-1-1) will host Wake Forest (13-3-2) in the semifinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Klöckner Stadium. The match is slated for a 4 p.m. start on ACC Network.
Game Coverage: ACC network is available through participating TV providers. For more information on how to get ACC, visit GetACCN.com. Links for the live stream and in-game live stats will be available on VirginiaSports.com. Note, only subscribers of ACC Network will be able to stream the match through the ESPN app. Fans can also follow the Virginia men’s soccer official twitter account (@UVAMenSoccer) for in-game updates.
Ticket Information: Fans can order tickets for the semifinal match online at UVATix.com or by phone through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at 800-542-UVA1 (8821) or 434-924-UVA1 (8821). The ticket office will take phone orders and handle in-person purchases during its normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Tickets are also available at the Klöckner Stadium gate beginning one hour prior to the start of play.
Advanced sales and online purchases are $8 for reserved seats and $5 for general admission. At the game day window, reserved tickets are $10 and general admission will be $8. Students of a participating school will be admitted free of charge with the presentation of a valid student ID.
Parking: Free parking will be available in the JPJ South lots on a first come, first served basis.
FOR STARTERS
• Wake Forest will be the seventh ranked opponent and third in the top-10 for Virginia this season. The Cavaliers are 6-0 this season against teams in the top-25.
• Klöckner Stadium will host only its third ACC Semifinal ever (1996, 2017 & 2019) and second in three years.
• The appearance in the ACC Semifinal is the 26th in Virginia history and 17th in 24 seasons under George Gelnovatch.
• Virginia has advanced to the ACC Semifinals for the second time in three years
• The Cavaliers come into Wednesday with the second lowest goals against average (0.35), second highest save percentage (.882) and the most shutouts (12) in the country.
• The Cavaliers own a 11-1 record at home this season, the most home wins of any team in the NCAA. No. 1 Clemson is the only other program with double-digit home wins (10).
• Virginia’s 15 wins are tied for the second most in collegiate soccer, second only to Missouri State’s 16 victories.
• Virginia is one of nine programs nationally with one or no losses this season and Virginia’s .912 winning percentage is the third highest in the NCAA.
• The Cavaliers have conceded just six goals this season, tied with Georgetown for the fewest by any team in DI soccer.
AGAINST WAKE FOREST
• In 57 all-time meetings, either Virginia or Wake Forest has been the No. 1 team in the nation 13 times. Including Wednesday’s match, one or both teams have been ranked in the top five in 32 of the 57 all-time matchups.
• The Cavaliers are unbeaten (13-0-5) against Wake Forest in ACC Tournament games. The last four ACC postseason matchups have need extra time. Among the five draws, the Demon Deacons have advanced past Virginia twice (2006 & 2017) in PKs.
• The two teams engaged in a wild, back and forth match that saw Wake Forest score two unanswered, second-half goals just 1:37 apart to come away with a 3-2 victory in front of 2,791 fans at Klöckner Stadium last season. Virginia held its only lead after a Daniel Steedman bicycle kick goal in the 73rd minute. Three of the game’s four second half goals came in a 4:52 span.
• Wednesday’s semifinal is also a rematch of the 2017 ACC Championship final that ended in a scoreless draw. The Demon Deacons claimed the tournament title after defeating the Cavaliers in penalty kicks, 4-3.
HOW WE GOT HERE
• The Cavaliers reached the 15-win plateau for the first time since 2009 after a 2-1 victory over Syracuse on Sunday afternoon. Virginia has won 15 games under Gelnovatch 10 times.
• Virginia scored two goals in the first 18 minutes of action in the quarterfinal round against 10th-seeded Syracuse. Joe Bell converted his team-high, third PK in the 11th minute and was followed by Nathaniel Crofts’ fourth goal of the season in the 18th minute.
• Syracuse became just the fifth team to score against the Cavaliers this season, cutting the Cavalier lead in half on a goal by Luther Archimede in the 70th minute.
• The Cavaliers withstood a late Syracuse charge, fending off the game’s final four shots and two corner Orange kicks in the final 20 minutes.
Virginia in the National Rankings
• The Cavaliers came in at No. 2 in this week’s United Soccer Coaches Top-25 poll. It’s spent 10-straight weeks in the top-7 and a total of eight in the top-5
• TopDrawerSoccer.com and College Soccer News each have Virginia as the No. 1 team in the country.
• Coming into Wednesday’s match, Virginia also occupies the top spot in the latest NCAA RPI rankings while Wake Forest is ranked fifth.
• Back on Nov. 1, the NCAA DI men’s soccer selection committee released its top 16 rankings and Virginia came in at No. 2 while Wake Forest was fifth.
Virginia in the ACC Tournament
• The Cavaliers own the most wins (43), goals (114), finals appearances (19) and tournament titles (10) in 32 years of the ACC Tournament.
• Under George Gelnovatch, Virginia has won four ACC Tournament Championships (1997, 2003, 2004, 2009) in his 24-year tenure.
• The Cavaliers have made it to the ACC Championship game 19 times with the last appearance coming in 2017, a 0-0 draw and PK shootout loss to Wake Forest.
• The Cavaliers earned a first-round bye in this year’s tournament by winning the Coastal Division Championship for the first time in the current two-division format (2014-present).
• The No. 2 seed in the tournament is Virginia’s highest since 2005.
• The Cavaliers have earned a first-round bye once (2015) in the last six seasons.
• Virginia is 423-19-12 in ACC Tournament games. Only eight tournament games have been played at Klöckner Stadium (two in 2017) in which the Cavaliers own 7-2 mark.
Regular Season to Remember
• Virginia won six ACC games for the fifth time in program history (1984, 1986, 2001, 2005 & 2019) and third under head coach George Gelnovatch.
• Gelnovatch was a player on the 1984 and 1986 teams that won six ACC games and later as head coach led the Cavaliers to six league victories in 2001, 2005 and 2019.
• Virginia won its first Coastal Division Championship under the current two-division format (2014-present). The regular season crown is the first since 2001 and the third under Gelnovatch (1996, 2001, 2019).
• Virginia won 14 regular season games for the first time since winning 15 matches in 2006.
• The Cavaliers won all eight of its non-conference matches and did not concede a goal in their non-conference slate for the first time in school history. The non-conference schedule included a 2-0 win over then-No. 1 and defending National Champion Maryland at Audi Field on Sept. 2.
• Virginia allowed only five goals in 16 regular season games, matching a school record set in 1969 (10 games) and 1988 (18 games).
• Virginia spent three weeks as the nation’s No. 1 team in the United Coaches Top 25 poll. The Cavaliers were ranked No. 12 in the preseason, jumped five spots in week one and have not been outside the top seven since.
CLEAN SHEETS
• Virginia has produced a shutout in 12 of its 17 matches this season, the most in the country.
• Under George Gelnovatch, the Cavaliers have reached 10+ shutouts, eight times including the National Championship seasons of 2009 and 2014.
• The 12 clean sheets in the regular season are the most in Gelnovatch’s tenure and tied for fourth most in UVA history.
HOW THEY SCORE IT
• A total of 12 different goal scorers are responsible for the 27 Virginia goals scored this season.
• Sophomore Daryl Dike leads the team in points (7g, 7a) with 21. The 21 points are the most by a Cavaliers since Will Bates totaled 25 (12g, 1a) in 2012, one of four 20+ point seasons for Bates.
• Not included in Dike’s stats are the fouls he drew to setup the game-winning goals against George Washington and Notre Dame. He also drew a foul in the box against Syracuse in the ACC Quarterfinals to setup a Joe Bell, first-half goal.
• Dike’s seven assists are tied for the sixth-most in the ACC.
• Nathaniel Crofts has four game-winning goals, tied for the second most in the ACC. Three of the four game-winners have come against ACC Schools.
• Joe Bell had four assists in league play this season, tied for the third most of any ACC player. The Cavaliers are 12-2-1 in his three seasons when he registers a point.