CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s soccer team (7-4-1, 3-1-1 ACC) is set to take on No. 18 Clemson (8-3-1, 2-2-1 ACC) as the Cavaliers look to earn a victory over the reigning NCAA Champions on Saturday (Oct. 15) at Historic Riggs Field. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Saturday night’s match against No. 18 Clemson will be streamed on ACCNX which is available through the ESPN app and at WatchESPN.com for customers who have the ACC Network as a part of their television subscription. Live stats are also available and links to both the live stats and broadcast are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVAMenSoccer).
FOR STARTERS
- Following a scoreless draw with No. 2 Duke, Virginia sits in second in the ACC Coastal Division standings trailing the Blue Devils by just a single point
- Virginia ranks third in the ACC with 24 goals to its credit and 33rd in the nation
- The Cavaliers rank fourth in the ACC in scoring offense overall
- The Cavaliers lead the ACC in shots on goal per game with an average of 7.25 – that mark ranks No. 14 in the nation
- Leo Afonso is tied for the ACC lead in game-winning goals with three – Virginia is 5-0 when Afonso scores
AGAINST THE TIGERS
- Saturday’s match will be the 61st meeting between the two teams as Virginia leads the all-time series 29-25-6
- Dating back to the 2014 season, the series between Virginia and Clemson is even at 2-2-1
- Under head coach George Gelnovatch, Virginia is 13-11-3 against the Tigers
- Virginia’s last victory over Clemson came in the 2019 ACC Championship game when the second-ranked Cavaliers downed the Tigers by a score of 3-1 to win the conference title
- Cabrel Happi Kamseu is the only current Cavalier to register a goal against Clemson, scoring against the Tigers in consecutive meetings in 2018 and 2019. Happi Kamseu has not seen game action this season.
DEFENSIVE CLASS
- The Cavalier defense has kept a clean sheet in three of its last five matches
- Virginia has now held four of the ACC’s premier scorers, Nathan Opoku (Syracuse), Levonte Johnson (Syracuse), Bertin Jacquesson (Pitt) and Mohammed Shakur (Duke) without a single point in matches against their respective teams
- The next test for the Cavaliers will be Ousmane Sylla of Clemson who leads the league in points per game
- In games against two of the top-three scoring offenses in the ACC (Syracuse/Pitt) Virginia allowed just one goal…