Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
Previewing the 2022 Virginia Men's Soccer Season
The 2022 Virginia men's soccer season begins this week and George Gelnovatch and the Cavaliers are looking climb back towards the top of the college soccer world.
After winning the ACC Championship and reaching the national championship game in the 2019 season, it has been rough sledding for the Hoos since then, turning in back-to-back sub-.500 seasons, including a 6-9-3 record last fall. Virginia won just two of its nine ACC matchups last season and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
The outlook for the Cavaliers this season isn't great according to the league's coaches, who voted Virginia to finish seventh (last) in the Coastal division in the 2022 ACC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll. However, led by ACC Preseason Watch List selection Andreas Ueland and 2021 All-ACC Second-Team forward Leo Afonso, the Hoos enter the season with a massive chip on their shoulder as they hope to restore this historically-great program to its winning ways this fall.
Here's a breakdown of the roster and schedule for the 2022 Virginia men's soccer season:
Roster Breakdown
In his first season taking over for First-Team All-American goalkeeper Colin Shutler, Holden Brown proved to be equal to the challenge. In 2021, Brown played all 1,727 minutes in cage for the Cavaliers and made 86 saves, the most by any ACC goalie and the fourth-most in the country. Brown also led the ACC with 4.78 saves per game and was second in the conference with a save percentage of .761. A hopefully improved UVA defense could help take some of the load off of Brown this season, but he will still need to be solid in between the posts in order for Virginia to have a successful season.
The Virginia defensive line in front of Brown will be anchored by senior Andreas Ueland, who was UVA's lone selection to the ACC Preseason Watch List. Ueland, who was a Third-Team All-ACC performer in 2019 and 2020, started in 17 games last season and played every minute of those games, recording two goals and one assist. UVA will be looking to a few different players to step up beside Ueland on the back line.
Fifth-year Mortiz Kappelsberger transferred to Virginia from Wisconsin, where he was a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection in 2021 and started every game. Sophomore Paul Wiese led the Hoos with six assists last year and was eighth in the conference in that category as a true freshman playing on the defensive line. Virginia will also look to junior William Citron, who appeared in 16 games last season, as well as Western Michigan transfer Aidan O'Connor, a former two-time Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year in high school.
The midfield unit will be led by sophomore Asparuh Slavov, who is coming off of a fantastic first-year campaign in which he started 17 games and was named to both the All-ACC Freshman Team and All-ACC Academic Team. Slavov will be flanked by junior Axel Ahlander, a transfer from JMU who was the CAA Rookie of the Year, the CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and an All-CAA Second-Team selection, scoring four goals and three assists during his time with the Dukes.
Another transfer, Daniel Mangarov from UNC Greensboro, scored four goals and three assists in 16 starts for the Spartans. Sophomore Erick Kilosho, junior Isaiah Byrd, and senior Jeremy Verley also provide depth and experience, while Virginia's freshmen class includes four midfielders with a great deal of talent and potential.
At the forward position, junior Leo Afonso returns after being Virginia's primary scoring option last season. Afonso, a Second-Team All-ACC selection in 2021, had eight goals and two assists for a team-high 18 points and finished the season strong with a goal in five of the last six games. Afonso is joined by sophomore Kome Ubogu, Virginia's second-highest points scorer with 10 points on four goals (including two game-winning goals) and two assists as a freshman.
Virginia also returns sophomore Michael Tsicoulias, who had two goals and an assist in 17 appearances last fall, as well as graduate student Cabrel Happi Kamseu, who has totaled nine goals and two assists in 51 career appearances in the orange and blue. To that unit, UVA adds Princeton grad transfer Truman Gelnovatch and four freshman forwards.
Virginia has the talent to win a lot of games this season, but the Cavaliers will have to do so against a competitive schedule of opponents.
Schedule Breakdown
Virginia's 16-match regular season schedule includes 11 home games at Klockner Stadium, including seven of the first eight games. Seven of Virginia's eight non-conference matches take place in Charlottesville, with the lone exception being a neutral-site battle on September 5th against Maryland at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. UVA is set to host Xavier, Rider, JMU, La Salle, American, Denver, and Hofstra in non-conference play.
In ACC play, UVA will travel to Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Clemson, and North Carolina, and the Cavaliers will host Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Duke, and Wake Forest at Klockner.
Virginia's 2022 schedule features eight games against opponents ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25. UVA will play No. 20 Maryland (Sept. 5 in Washington D.C.), No. 4 Notre Dame, (Sept. 16), at No. 7 Pittsburgh (Sept. 30), No. 12 Duke (Oct. 7), at No. 1 Clemson (Oct. 15), No. 17 Hofstra (Oct. 18), No. 15 Wake Forest (Oct. 22), and at No. 24 North Carolina (Oct. 28). Virginia closes its season with five-straight games against preseason ranked opponents.
See Virginia's full-16 game schedule below:
| Date/Time | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|
Aug. 25th at 7pm | Xavier | Charlottesville, VA |
Aug. 29th at 7pm | Rider | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 1st at 8pm | James Madison | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 5th at 6pm | Maryland | Washington, D.C. |
Sept. 9th at 8pm | Virginia Tech | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 13th at 7pm | La Salle | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 16th at 7pm | Notre Dame | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 20th at 7pm | American | Charlottesville, VA |
Sept. 24th at 7pm | at Syracuse | Syracuse, NY |
Sept. 30th at 7pm | at Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA |
Oct. 4th at 6pm | Denver | Charlottesville, VA |
Oct. 7th at 7pm | Duke | Charlottesville, VA |
Oct. 15th at 7pm | at Clemson | Clemson, SC |
October 18th at 7pm | Hofstra | Charlottesville, VA |
October 22nd at 7pm | Wake Forest | Charlottesville, VA |
October 28th at 7pm | at North Carolina | Chapel Hill, NC |
Virginia begins the 2022 season by hosting Xavier on Thursday (Aug. 25) at 7pm at Klockner Stadium. The match will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
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