Ehrenpreis on Fast Track at UVA

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When Zachary Ehrenpreis received an invitation to the MLS College Showcase after his freshman season, the University of Virginia men’s soccer program held its collective breath.

In his long tenure as head coach at his alma mater, George Gelnovatch has sent countless players to the professional ranks. He knew Ehrenpreis’ play last season had piqued the interest of pro clubs, and there was no guarantee the left-footed defender would return for UVA for another season.

“He’s on everybody’s radar,” Gelnovatch said.

One of Ehrenpreis’ classmates at Virginia, forward Nicholas Simmonds, signed a professional contract after the two attended the MLS College Showcase in Mesa, Ariz. Unlike Simmonds, Ehrenpreis didn’t land a Generation Adidas deal, but his time is coming.

Ehrenpreis was the youngest player at the MLS combine in December, and he trained in Germany with the Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt this spring.

“He’s on the right path,” Gelnovatch said.

Ehrenpreis’ sophomore season begins Thursday at 7 p.m., when No. 11 Virginia hosts UCLA at Klöckner Stadium. It’s a venue with which he was unfamiliar growing up. Ehrenpreis was born and raised in Northern California—his hometown of San Carlos is about 25 miles southeast of San Francisco—and didn’t make it to Grounds until the summer before his junior year at Sacred Heart Preparatory School.

College teams hold ID camps at which coaching staffs evaluate prospects, and Ehrenpreis had to pitch himself to Division I programs. “I wasn't a huge name recruit out of high school. I was at a less-known academy. So I had to email a bunch of coaches.”

He originally planned to attend an ID camp at Indiana University, but it was overbooked, Ehrenpreis said, and the coaches there put him on a waiting list. “So I just canceled that, and I ended up signing up for UVA.”

Ehrenpreis impressed the Cavaliers’ coaches, who invited him to return for another camp over Christmas break of his junior year. He played well again at that camp, after which UVA offered him a scholarship. Ehrenpreis committed early in 2024.

“I wanted to get off the West Coast,” he said, “and I just really like Virginia. I like Virginia soccer and I like the school itself, so it just became my first choice.”

Simmonds, who’s from the Richmond area, enrolled at UVA in January 2025. Ehrenpreis arrived on Grounds about five months later after graduating from Sacred Heart.

“I wouldn't say that we ruled Zach out as being a starter,” Gelnovatch said, “but we certainly weren't counting on him coming in and, in effect, being a starter right away.”

Ehrenpreis came off the bench in Virginia’s first two preseason games last summer, but the coaches knew he “had the tools,” Gelnovatch said. “He's 6-foot-4. He's lanky. He's athletic. He can really pass.”

UVA closed its 2025 preseason schedule with a game against Georgetown, and Ehrenpreis won over the staff with his performance. “That’s when I kind of said to myself, ‘I really think he can do it,’ ” Gelnovatch recalled. “And he never looked back.”

In 2025, only four Cavaliers logged more minutes than Ehrenpreis, who was named to the ACC’s All-Freshman team. Virginia finished 12-2-5 after falling to UNC Greensboro in the NCAA tournament’s second round.

“I think with the group of guys we had, we should have won more and gone further in the tournament,” said Ehrenpreis, who didn’t turn 19 until May. “I think we had arguably the best roster of players, so that was kind of frustrating, but I was happy with how I did. I think that there were things that I could have improved on, but I was happy with how I did.”

His success didn’t shock him. After he committed, UVA’s coaches gave Ehrenpreis several goals to pursue. Among other things, they wanted him to improve his flat-line speed and gain some weight.

“I had a little over a year and a half to get ready,” Ehrenpreis said, “and I was all in on just getting ready. I put on probably 20 pounds. My top speed increased probably by four miles per hour. And then I had some really good opportunities.”

Growing up in the Bay Area, he’d played for Breakers FC, but his soccer skills opened other doors for him. Early in the second semester of Ehrenpreis’ senior year at Sacred Heart, the Philadelphia Union invited him to train with its academy team.

“They wanted to see how I fit in with the team and if I was the right level for them,” he said, “and they liked me and ended up inviting me back to come with them to GA Cup.”

That tournament was held in Bradenton, Fla., in April 2025. When he returned home, Breakers FC was in flux, so Ehrenpreis began playing for De Anza Force, another club in the Bay Area. “And then once I graduated and I didn't have school in the morning, I went and trained every day with Oakland Roots, which is a USL Championship team.”

These experiences accelerated his development, Ehrenpreis said. “I played at Breakers for probably six years, seven years, so I was so used to one system, so having to learn all these new things in a short period of time got me used to what it was going to be like in college, so I think that helped a lot.”

After his first year at UVA ended, Ehrenpreis returned home. An injury sidelined him for a while, but when he was healthy again he trained with the second team of the San Jose Earthquakes, an MLS club.

“You pick up different things from different settings like that, from different coaches, different players,” Ehrenpreis said. “I think it’s helped my development, just learning all that from all these different coaches.”

The MLS College Showcase was another learning experience for No. 18.

“It was pretty cool,” Ehrenpreis said. “They flew us out to Arizona, and then we were all in this hotel that was all MLS decked out. It was kind of like the NFL combine. We did some physical testing and then we just played a lot. I think I played two or three games of 11-v-11, and we played some smaller games and did a couple training sessions.”

Among those watching the MLS combine were representatives of European clubs, including Eintracht Frankfurt. “They thought that I played well and that I'd do well in Germany,” Ehrenpreis said, and they invited him to train with the club during UVA’s spring break.

“I flew to Frankfurt and trained with their under-18 team for the first two days,” he said, “and then with their second team for the rest of the time. It was a pretty cool experience. It was nothing like I'd ever done before.”

Ehrenpreis doesn’t speak German, which limited his ability to interact with the other players, and so he spent most of his time in Frankfurt “training and sleeping,” he said. But he got his point across on the pitch.

“When I came in, I think everyone was just sort of like, ‘Oh, this American, he probably sucks. He’s probably no good,’ ” Ehrenpreis said. “I think that made it an even bigger thing for me to perform well and earn my respect there, and I think that I did that by the end of the week. I think I performed really well, and I was one of the better players in the group.”

When he arrived at UVA last summer, Ehrenpreis might not have predicted the opportunities he’d have over the next year, “but I think I have a lot of confidence in myself and my ability,” he said, “and I've worked really hard to get to where I am. It’s definitely cool. It’s my dream to go pro. and I'm getting closer to that.”

His goals for the coming semester? He wants to help Virginia win ACC and NCAA titles. Then, if all goes as planned, he hopes to sign a Generation Adidas contract. Gelnovatch appreciates Ehrenpreis’ ambition, but he doesn’t want his left center back worrying about becoming a pro.

“I’m trying to get him to just focus on playing well,” Gelnovatch said, “and the rest will take care of itself.”

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