#3 UVA men’s soccer hosts #25 ODU Friday

The third-ranked UVA men’s soccer team opens its 2014 regular season at 8 p.m. Friday against No. 25 Old Dominion at Klöckner Stadium. The match is part of a doubleheader with the Virginia women’s soccer team, which takes on Richmond at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth, seniors and faculty/staff; one ticket is good for admission into both matches. Group ticket orders of 20 or more tickets are $4.

Parking/Traffic Advisory
Free parking is available in the University Hall lots. Because of packet pickup for the Charlottesville 4-Miler on Friday night at John Paul Jones Arena from 5-8 p.m., more traffic than normal is expected in the area. Fans are encouraged to allow extra time to arrive because of the additional traffic.

Virginia-ODU Series
Virginia and Old Dominion are battling for the 24th time, with the Cavaliers owning a 15-6-2 advantage in the all-time series. ODU won the last matchup, 1-0, in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Charlottesville.

Who’s Back
Virginia returns 18 letterwinners from the 2013 squad, which went 13-6-5 and advanced to the NCAA College Cup semifinals. Nine starters are back from that team, although Marcus Salandy-Defour is injured and will not play in 2014. All-American Eric Bird anchors the Cavalier midfield, while All-ACC forward Darius Madison also is back in the mix.

UVa Picked Second in Coastal
Virginia was selected second in the ACC Coastal Division in the preseason ACC Coaches Poll. Notre Dame, with 64 points, was named the favorite in the Coastal Division, edging out Virginia with 62 points. UNC (53), Duke (37), Virginia Tech (23) and Pitt (13) rounded out the division.

Noting ODU
The Monarchs, picked fourth in Conference USA, return seven lettermen from their 2013 squad that went 11-6-1, finished second in C-USA in the regular season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Led by head coach Alan Dawson, ODU has advanced to four straight NCAA tournaments.

Gelnovatch Among Winningest NCAA Coaches
Now in his 19th season at the helm of the Virginia program and the longest-tenured head coach in program history, George Gelnovatch ranks as the 10th-winningest active head coach in Division I college soccer, with a .691 career winning percentage. He stands 25th in career wins among current head coaches with 260. Among Division I coaches all-time, he ranks 36th in career winning percentage. Gelnovatch has led UVa to the NCAA tournament in each of his 18 years, part of the Cavaliers’ 33 straight trips to the tournament (longest active streak in the country).

Up Next
Virginia makes its first-ever trip to the state of Oklahoma next weekend, as the Cavaliers travel to Tulsa to compete in the Golden Hurricane’s tournament. The Cavaliers face Tulsa on Sept. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET and take on UAB on Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. ET.