Virginia Opens Spring Season Tuesday Against George Mason

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s soccer program will kick off its 2021 spring schedule on Tuesday (March 2) when they host George Mason (0-1) at Klöckner Stadium. The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start and will air live on ACCNX.

Game Coverage: ACCNX streams via the ESPN App and is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network. Information on cable providers that currently carry ACC Network can be found on GetACCN.com. Direct links for the live stream and in-game live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow the Virginia men’s soccer official twitter account (@UVAMenSoccer) for in-game updates.

FOR STARTERS

• Tuesday will mark the first of eight regular season matches scheduled for the spring. Virginia will play two non-conference matches and six ACC contests.
• The Cavaliers and Patriots will meet for the first time since 2015, a 1-0 road victory for Virginia.
• George Mason did not play in the fall of 2020 and lost their first game of the season on Saturday, 3-0 against James Madison.

FALL NOTES

• The Cavaliers went 3-4-1 in fall competition and made it to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament before falling to eventual champion Clemson.
• Eight different players accounted for the 10 Virginia goals in the fall, all will return to the roster in the spring.
• As the No. 4^th seed in the ACC North Region, Virginia upset top-seeded Wake Forest in Winston-Salem in the ACC Quarterfinals, 2-0. Cabrel Happi Kamseu scored two goals and the Cavaliers recorded their second shutout of the fall.
• Irakoze Donasiyano is expected to make his 50th consecutive start on Tuesday afternoon. Dating back to last season, Donasiyano has played in 1,068 consecutive minutes of action.
• Center back Andreas Ueland was one of two Cavaliers listed on the ACC All-Tournament team. Ueland also played every minute of action in the fall.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

• ACC teams will return to their respective Atlantic and Coastal divisions in the spring.
• The Atlantic Division champion will play the Coastal Division champion at the higher seed on April 13.
• The winner of the divisional champion match will play at Clemson (which won the ACC Championship in the fall) on April 17 to determine the ACC’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament.
• If Clemson is the Atlantic Division champion, the April 13 match against the Coastal Division champion will be played to determine the league’s automatic qualifier.

ROSTER MAKEUP

• The Cavaliers will be without goalkeeper Colin Shutler who was drafted 45^th overall by Toronto FC in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. Shutler had started 45 games in goal for the Cavaliers over the last four seasons and was listed on the Mac Hermann Award watch list earlier this spring.
• Virginia will also be missing Bret Halsey who was the seventh overall pick of Real Salt Lake in this year’s SuperDraft. Halsey started 31 matches for the Cavaliers and was a two-time ACC All-Tournament selection.
• Returning to the spring roster will be Irakoze Donasiyano and Nathaniel Crofts who were both selected in the SuperDraft but will return to their respective MLS teams in May.
• Virginia added defender Will Citron in January who has 15 collegiate games under his belt after spending his freshman season at Cornell. Midyear transfer Scott Williams will add depth to the Cavalier goalkeeping corps