Virginia Soccer: ‘Hoos announce signing class of 13 for 2020

Virginia men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch has finalized a recruiting class of 13 that will join the 2020 Virginia men’s soccer team.

A total of eight true freshmen, three transfers and two graduate transfer comprise the signing class.

“This class gives us an immediate injection of experience and leadership and sprinkles in some really good young talent,” Gelnovatch said. “We were presented with a big challenge back in January after a good number of our veterans moved on to the professional ranks and/or graduated. I think there is a nice blend of transfers with familiarity with this level of soccer as well as a good number of international guys that can help us right away.”

Last season, Virginia put together a campaign that sported an overall record of 21-2-1 and culminated with the program’s 13th College Cup appearance. The Cavaliers took home the ACC Regular Season Championship, ACC Tournament Championship and reached the National Championship game for the third time in the last 11 years.

Virginia lost four underclassman starters from last year’s squad to the professional ranks – Daryl Dike (Orlando City SC), Henry Kessler (New England Revolution), Joe Bell (Viking FK) and Daniel Steedman (Atlanta United 2).

“Our team last year was arguably one of the best in UVA history and there is no better compliment to a to the quality of a program when you see guys achieve their dream of playing soccer professionally. I’m proud of how we have prepared guys for that dream and am even more excited to get to work with this corps of newcomers.”

Signing Class Breakdown

Freshmen (8): Leo Afonso (Boynton Beach, Fla.), Julian Aguilar (Guatemala City, Guatemala), Jules Anderson (Ocean, N.J.), Holden Brown (Zionsville, Ind.), Rafael Caipo (Lima, Peru), Kaya Ignacio (Georgetown, Texas), Chris Scheipe (Duluth, Ga.), William Shuchart (St. Petersburg, Fla.)

Transfers (3): Oliver Gerbig (Taipei, Taiwan), Alex Rando (New York, N.Y.), Kevin Ogudugu (Oslo, Norway)

Graduate Transfers (2): Louis Evans (Cantebury, New Zealand), Joan Gilbert (Barcelona, Spain)

Information from Virginia Athletics