After two weeks on the road, the tenth-ranked Virginia men’s soccer team returns to Klöckner Stadium for three straight, and four of its next five matches.
The Cavaliers (5-0-2, 2-0-1 ACC) welcome in No. 22 Wright State tonight at 7 p.m. in a matchup of two of college soccer’s eight remaining unbeaten teams.
The Raiders, who are 3-0 in the Horizon League, come in with a mark of 8-0-1 overall and have the nation’s second-highest scoring average at 3 goals a game.
Luckily for UVa coach George Gelnovatch, he’s got arguably the best defense in the country. His Cavaliers have still allowed just one goal all season, and it came in the opening minute of the ACC opener against Virginia Tech way back on Sept. 7.
Since then, the Wahoos have gone 469 consecutive minutes without letting one past Colin Shutler. The second-year keeper has faced 75 shots this season (29 on goal), with a total of 28 saves and a goals-against average of 0.13, which leads the nation.
Shutler, who has played all 670 minutes this season, also leads all Division I goalies in save percentage (0.966) and shutout percentage (0.857), and has posted six shutouts, including four in a row.
The ‘Hoos are outscoring opponents 9-1 on the year, and it’s the first time since 1985 that the team has conceded just one goal through the first seven games. UVa is the only team in the country that hasn’t given up multiple tallies in a game this year.
In Friday’s 2-0 win at Pittsburgh, freshman forward Cabrel Happi Kamseu scored his team-leading third goal of the season, marking his third tally in four contests, which has included a pair of game-winning goals.
“This was a really good road win against one of the most underrated teams in our conference — maybe in the country,” Gelnovatch said of the victory at Pitt. “We got a lot of good individual performances tonight and I think as a unit we continue to get better with each game.”
Another freshman, defenseman Aboubacar Keita, scored his first career goal in the 63rd minute against the Panthers with a header off of a Joe Bell assist, his third straight game with a helper, which leads the team.
Bell, Keita and junior captain Robin Afamefuna have also played in every minute this season. Keita’s back-line mates, Prosper Figbe and Henry Kessler, have sat a total of just three minutes on the season.
Nathaniel Crofts has started 28 straight games for the ‘Hoos dating back to the start of last season, and the sophomore forward has posted two goals and an assist, all against conference competition this year.
No announcement has been made as of Tuesday regarding make-up dates for the two games that were postponed due to inclement weather — Aug. 30 against Elon and Sept. 14 against No. 15 Notre Dame.
As of the remaining scheduled games, the Cavaliers will host No. 23 Duke Friday night and then No. 5 Denver — another undefeated opponent at 8-0-2 — Monday at 6 p.m.
Virginia then travels to Clemson and hosts Radford before closing out the regular season with quite a tough 1-2 punch.
The ‘Hoos host top-ranked Wake Forest on Senior Day (Oct. 20) and then hit the road to face No. 3 North Carolina six days later in the finale. The Demon Deacons (10-0-0) are the only team in the country with no losses and no ties, while the Tar Heels are currently 7-1-0.
Gelnovatch’s squad will then play in the ACC Tournament, which begins Halloween night, and will position themselves for another run toward the NCAA College Cup in November.
