Top Seeded Virginia Takes on Cal in ACC Semifinal

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The top-seeded No. 4-ranked Virginia men’s soccer team (11-1-4) is set to face off with 12th-seeded California (8-7-2) in an ACC Semifinal matchup at Klöckner Stadium on Sunday (Nov. 9). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

Admission
Single-game tickets for the semifinal matches are $10 in advance and $15 on gameday, while championship game tickets are $15 in advance and $20 on gameday. Tickets only are available online and no walk-up sales will be available. Fans can purchase tickets online using this link.

Exclusive group pricing is also available for groups of 10 or more, along with unique on-field opportunities. For details, visit theACC.com/groups or contact tickets@theacc.org.

How to Follow:
Thursday’s match against California will air on ACC Network which is available through the ESPN app and at WatchESPN.com for customers who have the ACC Network as part of their TV subscription. Links to both the broadcast and live stats are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVAMenSoccer).

For Openers: 

• The Cavaliers are set for just their fifth matchup with California all-time. UVA leads the series with a 2-1-1 record. The last meeting between the teams took place in Berkeley, a 1-1 draw.
• UVA enters the game riding a 13-game unbeaten streak and are one of just seven teams in NCAA Division I with an active unbeaten streak of 10+ games.
• The Cavaliers went undefeated in ACC play with a record of 5-0-3. It marks the first time Virginia went unbeaten in ACC play was in 2001 when the team went 6-0-0.
• The 2001 season was also the last time Virginia won the ACC regular season title outright at earned the top seed in the ACC Men’s Soccer Championship

Hoos in the ACC Tournament

• Virginia holds an all-time record of 49-21-14 in the ACC Men’s Soccer Championship and has won the ACC tournament 11 times.
• Virginia has won the ACC title a total of 16 times, winning the league five times before the ACC tournament’s inception
• Virginia is set to make its third appearance in the ACC Semifinal in the last four seasons
• UVA’s last ACC Championship came in 2019 when the Cavaliers defeated Clemson by a score of 3-1 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

Simmonds Fires Cavaliers into ACC Semifinal

• Top-seeded Virginia fell behind 1-0 in the ACC Quarterfinal against North Carolina in the 27th minute
• Virginia responded before halftime as Triton Beauvois found the back of the net on a Nick Simmonds assist
• Simmonds would later score the game winning goal in the 78th minute, his second of the season

Simmonds Historic Hat Trick

• Nick Simmonds was involved in each of Virginia’s four goals (3g, 1a) in a shutout win over Clemson (10/25)
• Simmonds became the first Cavalier to record a hat trick since 2012 and the first freshman to do so since 2009.
• Will Bates (’12) was the last to achieve both of those feats – Bates also coached Simmonds at the U15 level

NCAA Selection Committee Ranking

• The Cavaliers were ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Selection Committee’s top-16 rankings announced Friday evening (Oct. 17)
• Based on results through games of October 14, Princeton, Stanford, Virginia and Portland received the top four seeds. The top four seeds are crucial, as if the seeds hold those four teams would have the opportunity to host quarterfinal matches with a bid to the Men’s College Cup on the line.
• The ranking is based on the criteria used to select and seed the 48 teams for the Division I Men’s Soccer Championship and in no particular order includes strength of schedule, Rating Percentage Index, head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents, strength and results against non-conference opponents, late season performance in the last eight games and strength and results against conference opponents.

Results Against Top-10 Opposition

• Virginia was tested early with a run of three consecutive matches against opponents ranked in the nation’s top-10. The Cavaliers went 2-0-1 against No. 8 Virginia Tech (T, 2-2), No. 6 Louisville (W, 1-0) and No. 1 Wake Forest (W, 6-3).
• The stretch marked the first time UVA matched up with three-straight top-10 opponents since 2022 when Virginia went 2-1-1 against No. 3 Syracuse, No. 10 Pitt, No. 10 Denver and No. 2 Duke.
• The last time UVA opened ACC play with back-to-back road matches against top-10 foes was in 2000, when No. 11 Virginia posted a 2-0 win at No. 5 Wake Forest before defeating No. 10 North Carolina 3-1 in Chapel Hill.
• UVA then went on to topple No. 2 NC State (W, 1-0) on the road.
• The Cavaliers hold a record of 97-76-39 against top-10 opposition all-time
• Since the start of 2022, Virginia has recorded 14 positive results (wins or draws) against top-10 opponents with eight of those results coming on the road:

*Opponent advanced on penalties in postseason play

The Virginia Standard

• As an 11-seed in 2024, the Cavaliers earned a first round bye in the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season.
• UVA is one of just five programs to earn first-round byes in each of the last three seasons and is the only program that earned multiple top-eight seeds in that span.
• The Cavaliers are coming off their second ACC Semifinal appearance in three seasons.