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University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA 22904
Virginia Northeast
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Steve Swanson

Through 33 seasons as a head coach, including the last 23 years at the helm of Virginia’s program, Swanson has established himself as one of the elite coaches in collegiate soccer, and certainly one of the most respected. Swanson has led his teams to six conference championships, 28 NCAA Tournament appearances and 32 consecutive winning seasons during his 33-year career. He also has accumulated 467 career wins as a head coach making him one of a small group of NCAA Division I women’s soccer coaches to hit the 400-win milestone.


In his time as Virginia’s head coach, he has compiled a 363-105-56 record and coached 12 ACC Player of the Year selections, four ACC Freshman of the Year selections and been named the ACC Coach of the Year three times. He also coached back-to-back MAC Hermann Trophy winner, Morgan Brian. In all, he has coached 22 Virginia players to All-America honors in his time at the helm of the program.


The last decade will be one Swanson will never forget because of the successes experienced on the pitch as both a collegiate coach and with the US Women’s National Team – including winning a pair of World Cup Championships and taking the Cavaliers to the College Cup three times.


Last season, Virginia advanced to the Elite Eight for an overtime showdown with eventual NCAA Champion and top-seeded UCLA. It was the 17th time in the last 18 seasons the Hoos advanced to at least the Round of 16 in the NCAAA Tournament. The Cavaliers posted a pair of road wins over top-five programs – including a second-half rally for a 3-2 win at No. 2 North Carolina. Lia Godfrey earned All-America honors for the third straight season and was a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Haley Hopkins and Alexa Spaanstra were both first-round picks in the NWSL Draft.


In the fall of 2021, the Cavaliers claimed the ACC regular-season for the third time and advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. He coached Diana Ordoñez to ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors and she was a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy in addition to earning All-America honors along with Lia Godfrey.


In the 2020-21 season, Swanson led the Cavaliers to the semifinals at the College Cup with Virginia storming through the NCAA Tournament and posting four consecutive shutouts before falling in a penalty kick shootout in the semifinals. Godfrey was named an All-America selection and the ACC Freshman of the Year.


He appeared on the international stage as an assistant coach with the US Women’s National Team, helping the United States claim back-to-back World Cup Championships in the summers of 2015 and 2019 and an Olympic appearance in the Games in Brazil in the summer of 2016.


In the summer of 2015, Swanson served as an assistant coach for the United States as the Americans triumphed over Japan to win its third World Cup while he was watching two of his former UVA standout players, Morgan Brian (Class of 2015) and Becky Sauerbrunn (Class of 2007), play the entire 90 minutes of the final.


That fall, he led Virginia to the ACC regular-season title and coached both the ACC Offensive Player of the Year in Makenzy Doniak and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in Emily Sonnett. Sonnett was also named the ESPNW National Player of the Year. She, Doniak and Brittany Ratcliffe all were drafted in the NWSL with Sonnett taken first overall, marking the second consecutive season for a Cavalier player to be the top pick in the draft. Swanson was also named ACC Coach of the Year for the second time.


In 2014, the Cavaliers made their second-consecutive College Cup appearance and their first-ever College Cup Final. UVA (23-3-0, 9-1-0 ACC) advanced to the ACC final and, for the second-straight season, Brian was honored with the Hermann Trophy as the nation’s best collegiate player.


During his tenure as head coach of the Virginia women’s soccer team, Swanson has had a dramatic impact on the program since he replaced former United States National Team Head Coach April Heinrichs in the spring of 2000. Over the past 18 years, the Cavaliers are 282-87-44 (.736) under his direction, as Swanson has the highest winning percentage in the history of the program.


Swanson’s track record of success, not only on the collegiate level but also at the international level, was evident in 2012. That year he won a pair of championships, leading Virginia to its second ACC title and guiding the United States to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Championship in Japan. For those feats, he was one of ten coaches named to the shortlist for FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year.


Swanson came to Virginia after two highly successful stops at Stanford and Dartmouth. At Dartmouth, Swanson guided the Big Green to national prominence. He did an equally impressive job at Stanford, helping maintain the program’s standing as one of the premier teams in the country while leading the Cardinal to two Pac-10 titles in four seasons. In 2004, he led Virginia to the first ACC Championship in school history, making him the only coach in Division I history to win titles in three different conferences. He has since become the only coach in history to win multiple conference championships in three difference conferences. Swanson also enjoyed success as a player in college and as a professional.


In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Swanson has been associated with the United States youth national teams for more than a decade. He was the head coach of the U-20 Women’s National Team from 2011-12, leading the team to a World Cup championship. In December 2013, Swanson was named the head coach of the United States U-23 National Team. It is the fourth different age group he has led for the US Soccer Federation.


In 2013, Swanson led the Cavaliers to the best season in school history and was recognized as the NSCAA National Coach of the Year. As Virginia made its second NCAA College Cup appearance, the team set school records with 24 wins and 78 goals scored. The Cavaliers went undefeated through the regular season (19-0 overall, 13-0 ACC) as Swanson earned ACC Coach of the Year honors for the first time in his career. On Sept. 19, Swanson became the 16th Division I coach to join the 300-win club, and the 11th to accumulate 300 wins at the Division I level.


In 2012, the Cavaliers won their second ACC Championship, defeating three top-10 opponents to capture the title. Virginia finished the year with an 18-5-1 record and reached the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive year.


In 2011, Swanson led Virginia to a 17-5-2 record and a NCAA quarterfinal appearance. In 2010, the Cavaliers posted a 15-5-2 record, highlighted by a 3-2 overtime win over No. 1 Boston College, the program’s first win over a top-ranked team and Swanson’s 250th career victory. The Cavaliers went 10-6-6 in 2009 and 15-5-3 in 2008, reaching the NCAA round of 16 both seasons. In 2007, the Cavaliers went 13-4-6 and reached the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. A strong defense highlighted that year as Virginia led the nation with a 0.40 goals against average and set a school record with 15 shutouts.


In 2006, Virginia went 12-8-2, reaching the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. During the year, Swanson recorded his 200th career win and his 100th win at Virginia. In 2005, the Cavaliers tied a school record for wins in a season with 18. The team reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history and finished the year with a top-10 ranking for the fourth time in the past five years.


In 2004, Swanson led the Cavaliers to a historic season, as the team captured its first ACC Championship, defeating North Carolina in penalty kicks in the tournament final and snapping the Tar Heels’ 15-year ACC Championship streak. Virginia set six different season school records during the season, including most goals and fewest goals allowed. The Cavaliers were the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest seed in school history, as they made their 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The team concluded the season with a 17-3-2 record, and a No. 2 national ranking by Soccer America.


In 2003, the Cavaliers posted a 12-5-4 record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The previous season, Swanson led a young Cavalier team with 10 freshmen on the 23-player roster to a 13-7-2 record and a second place finish in the ACC for the second consecutive year. The team defeated Dayton and No. 5 seed West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament to reach the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive season. He guided the team to a 17-4-2 overall record, 5-2 in the ACC and 7-0 against in-state teams, during the 2001 season. UVA finished second in the ACC during the regular season and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before losing 3-2 to eventual national champion Santa Clara. The loss marked the second time in as many years the Cavaliers’ national title hopes were ended by the eventual national champion. In Swanson’s first year at UVA in 2000, Virginia finished with an 11-8-1 record and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before losing 2-1 to eventual national champion North Carolina.


During his four seasons at Stanford, Swanson guided the Cardinal to an overall record of 48-27-4, two Pac-10 championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. His 1999 squad finished with an impressive 14-4-1 record, captured a Pac-10 title and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Three of Swanson’s players were named to the 1998 All-Pac-10 team and four earned Pac-10 All-Academic recognition. Swanson also coached the 1998 Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year. In 1999, he was honored as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year.


In his first year at the helm of the Cardinal, Swanson led his team to a first-place finish in the Pac-10 and a spot in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. In both 1998 and 1999, his recruiting classes were ranked among the top six by national publications. The 1999 recruiting class was ranked first by Soccer America. Among that class were three members of the U.S. National Under-18 team and three Parade All-Americans.


Prior to serving as Stanford’s head coach, Swanson served as both the head women’s soccer coach and assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth College from 1990-1995. During his years at Dartmouth, he transformed the Big Green into a national powerhouse with an overall record of 55-35-7 (.603). Under his guidance, Dartmouth made its first two NCAA Tournament appearances in school history (1993 and 1994) and won its first two Ivy League Championships in school history (1991 and 1993). During his last three years at the helm, the Big Green was ranked in the year-end top 20. Named New England Coach of the Year in 1992, Swanson led his team to an undefeated conference season the following year en route to winning the Ivy League title for the second time in three years. His 1993 Dartmouth squad not only went through league play undefeated, but also was unscored upon in the conference.


Swanson has coached 33 All-Americans, two national players of the year, 14 conference players of the year, and 116 all-conference selections. Of his former players at Dartmouth, Stanford and Virginia, 37 have played professionally in the WUSA, WPS or NWSL. In 2002, Swanson became the third coach to win at least 40 games with three different NCAA Division I women’s soccer programs.


Swanson has been heavily involved with the United States Youth National Teams. In addition to serving at the head coach of the U-23 National Team, he was the head coach of the U-16 National Team and head coach of the U-18 National Team from 2000-02 and the head coach of the U-20 Women’s National Team from 2011-12. Swanson has also been an assistant coach with the U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20 and full Women’s National Teams in recent years.


A graduate of Michigan State in 1984, Swanson played professionally in the United States and Canada for four years before returning to school to obtain his master’s degree at Iowa. He played more than 150 consecutive games in tours of duty with the Milwaukee Wave and the Chicago Shoccers of the American Indoor Soccer Association, and with AC Roma and the Windsor Wheels in the National Soccer League of Canada (NSLC). While at Michigan State, Swanson was a four-year letterwinner in soccer. He was the team’s leading scorer, captain and a regional All-American his senior year.


Swanson and his wife Julie have three children, daughters Alexis and Kelsey, and son Sam.

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Ron Raab

Ron Raab is in the 18th year of his second tenure on the Virginia coaching staff. Raab also served as an assistant coach at UVA from 1997-2000 and was the program’s volunteer assistant from 2004-2005. In June 2014, he was elevated to associate head coach.


In the 17 seasons since Raab returned as a full-time assistant with the Cavaliers in 2006, the team has posted a 275-71-45 record, won the 2012 ACC Championship, the 2013 ACC regular season title on the way to the 2013 NCAA College Cup, advanced to the finals of the NCAA College Cup in 2014 and then followed it up with another ACC regular season title in 2015. Virginia also set the school record for goals scored in three consecutive seasons including a nation-leading 88 in 2014. The Cavaliers advanced to the College Cup for the third time in his tenure in the 2020-21 season and claimed a third ACC regular-season title in the fall of 2021 and most recently advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.


Raab began his coaching career at William & Mary, his alma mater, in 1989. In 1990, he was named an assistant coach at Princeton where he assisted on April Heinrichs’ staff. A year later, he followed Heinrichs to Maryland when she took over the program there. In 1992, Raab left coaching to go into the banking business, but returned to coaching in 1997 at Virginia to serve on Heinrichs’ staff again. He served on her staff for three seasons at UVA and on Steve Swanson’s staff in his first season in Charlottesville. In each of his first four seasons at Virginia, the Cavaliers reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.


After leaving Virginia, Raab was the head coach at Evansville for three seasons.


A 1989 graduate of William & Mary with a double major of history and economics, Raab was a three-year letterwinner on the Tribe soccer team. In 1987, he set William & Mary’s school record for goals in a game with four against Christopher Newport. He also played one season for the Washington Mustangs of the USISL in 1993. He holds an “A” coaching license from the U.S. Soccer Federation and has served as a coach of the Region I ODP staff.


Raab and his wife Janice have two daughters, Natalie and Leah.

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George Gelnovatch

George Gelnovatch enters his 28th season as the head coach of the Virginia men’s soccer program. The longest tenured head coach in program history, Gelnovatch has led the Cavaliers to a pair of national championships in 2009 and 2014 as well as six NCAA College Cup appearances and 25 berths in the NCAA tournament.


Gelnovatch became the program’s all-time leader in wins on August 25, 2017 with a 3-2 double-overtime victory over Villanova, surpassing his UVA mentor Bruce Arena for the program record in wins with 296. He reached the 300-win plateau on Sept. 15, 2017 with a 2-1 triumph at Virginia Tech, becoming just the fourth coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history to win 300 career matches.


A former Cavalier soccer All-American and assistant coach, Gelnovatch has guided Virginia to five ACC tournament titles, three regular-season ACC championships and a record of 361-152-67 (.680) during his tenure as UVA head coach. Over the course of his 32 years as an assistant and head coach at Virginia, he has been a part of all seven of the Cavaliers’ national championships.


Gelnovatch is the first coach in NCAA Division I men’s soccer history to lead 20-straight teams to the NCAA tournament. He is one of just five coaches in the Division I men’s soccer annals to take 24 teams to the tournament and one of only two active coaches to do so.


Gelnovatch ranks as the 13th-winningest active head coach in Division I college soccer, with a .680 career winning percentage. He stands ninth in career wins among current head coaches. Among Division I coaches all-time, he ranks 40th in wins and 43rd in career winning percentage . These figures are even more striking when considering Gelnovatch’s teams play one of the nation’s toughest schedules on a yearly basis.


Virginia has won at least 15 games in a season 10 times under Gelnovatch, including 2019 when it won 21 games the second most in the history of the program en route to an ACC Coastal Division Championship, an ACC Tournament crown and a Runner-Up finish in the NCAA College Cup.


Gelnovatch has developed a number of Major League Soccer players during his UVA tenure, with 35 players going in MLS drafts and 12 in the MLS Supplemental Draft, while nine signed Project-40/Generation Adidas contracts and Jordan Allen (2014), Derrick Etienne (2015), Scott Thomsen (2015) and Aboubacar Keita (2018) each signed MLS Homegrown contracts. Jason Moore (1999) and Alecko Eskandarian (2003) were selected No. 1 in the MLS Draft, as 14 Cavaliers have been picked in the first round of the various MLS drafts.


Gelnovatch was named the 10th coach of the Virginia program on Jan. 3, 1996, after Bruce Arena announced he would end his 18-year career at the helm of UVA soccer to become head coach and assistant general manager of Major League Soccer’s D.C. United.


YEAR-BY-YEAR


The 2022 season saw Virginia return to where it belongs on the national landscape. Virginia finished with a record of 10-4-5 overall with a record of 5-1-2 in the ACC. After being picked to finish last in the ACC Coastal Division, it came down to the final day of competition when the Cavaliers finished second in the division by a margin of just one point.


The Cavaliers posted 10 wins for the first time since the 2019 season including the season highlight of consecutive road victories against No. 3 Syracuse and No. 10 Pitt. The Cavaliers went on to post a record of 5-2-3 against the top-25 including a win and two draws against teams ranked in the top three.


After finishing second in the Coastal Division, the third-seeded Cavaliers advanced to the semifinal of the ACC Tournament falling to No. 3 Syracuse on penalty kicks. Virginia earned its way back to the NCAA Tournament as the Cavaliers earned the No. 4 national seed marking just the 10th time the program has achieved a top-four seed. After their first-round bye, Virginia fell to Marshall, once again in penalty kicks.


At the end of the season, Andreas Ueland was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-ACC First Team, both for the first time in his career. Leading scorer Leo Afonso joined Ueland on the All-ACC First team while goalkeeper Holden Brown made third team after recording eight solo-shutouts, the 10th-most of any UVA goalkeeper in a single season. Reese Miller also earned an all-freshman nod.


In 2021, the college soccer schedule returned to its normal fall slate. UVA finished 6-9-3 overall and 2-5-1 in ACC play. The Cavaliers played six overtime games, going 0-3-3 in those games. Virginia was knocked out of the ACC Tournament by Wake Forest for the second consecutive season, falling 3-0 in the ACC Second Round.


The 2020 college soccer landscape was much different than any other year due to the CoVID19 pandemic. The season was broken into two segments a fall and a spring. The Cavaliers reached the semifinals of the fall ACC Tournament after upending second-seeded Wake Forest in Winston-Salem in the quarterfinal. With injuries and departures for the professional ranks, UVA went 4-4 in the spring, failing to qualify for a contracted NCAA Tournament field for the first time since 1980. The Cavaliers enjoyed another banner year in the MLS SuperDraft with five selections including Bret Halsey who signed a Generation Adidas contract and was the seventh overall pick of Real Salt Lake.


The 2019 Cavaliers fell just shy of the eighth national championship in program history, falling to Georgetown in a shootout in the NCAA College Cup in Cary, N.C. It was a banner year for Virginia who not only proved to be one of the top defenses (0.52 goals against average, t-1st in NCAA) in the country but were one of the most dangerous teams in the attacking third (1.92 goals per game, t-32nd in NCAA) in all of college soccer.


The Cavaliers reached 21-wins, the most in Gelnovatch’s tenure, in impressive fashion, defeating 12 top-25 teams, including six in the top-10. Virginia defeated the No. 1 team in the country twice, defending champion Maryland on Sept. 2 and Clemson in the ACC Championship game, dubbed the match of the century. The Cavaliers spent all but one week in the top-10 of the United Soccer Coaches poll and finished with a No. 2 final ranking.


Virginia earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Gelnovatch and the second time in program history (1995). The Cavaliers matched a program best with four All-Americans – Joe Bell, Colin Shutler, Henry Kessler and Daryl Dike. Bell was the first Cavalier to garner the ACC Midfielder of the Year and the United Soccer Coaches Scholar Athlete of the Year awards in addition to being one of three finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy.


The stout Virginia defense produced an NCAA-best 15 shutouts including nine in the first 10 games of the season. The 21 wins in 2019 were the most of any team in the country and no program had a higher winning percentage (.935).


An influx of youth guided Virginia to its 23rd-straight NCAA Tournament under Gelnovatch. An ACC record, four Cavaliers (Daryl Dike, Cabrel Happi Kamseu, Aboubacar Keita and Daniel Steedman) were named to the leagues All-Freshman Team. The Cavaliers finished with a 10-4-3 overall record, the 23rd-straight season of double-digit wins.


Defense in 2018 was once again a calling card of Gelnovatch’s teams, allowing only 12 goals in 17 games, good for a 0.71 goals against average that ranked second lowest in the ACC and 13th lowest in the nation. As the 10th-seed, Virginia reached the Third Round (sweet 16) of the NCAA Tournament for the 27th time in program history before an overtime road loss at Notre Dame


After reaching the finals of the ACC Championship for the 12th time since 1996, the Cavaliers qualified for the 2017 NCAA Tournament and entered as a national seed for the 15th time in Gelnovatch’s tenure. Virginia matched a school record with four selections in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft -Jeff Caldwell (19th overall), Edward Opoku (32nd overall), Pablo Aguilar (59th overall) and Sheldon Sullivan (66th overall). Only three programs in the country had four draftees.


Gelnovatch led Virginia to the NCAA tournament for the 21st straight time in his head coaching tenure in 2016, with his young Virginia side going 11-4-5, including a 3-2-3 record in the ACC, and reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. Seven Cavaliers were named to the All-ACC teams, with all of the players set to return for the 2017 campaign.


Gelnovatch guided Virginia to the program’s seventh national championship in 2014 as part of a 14-6-3 campaign. Once it reached the NCAA tournament, UVA caught fire. The Cavaliers advanced through road matches at top-seeded Notre Dame and eighth-seeded Georgetown to reach the NCAA College Cup, where UVA topped UMBC, 1-0, before ousting second-seeded UCLA in a penalty-kick shootout for the championship.


UVA used a stifling defense to make its run to the title. The Cavaliers surrendered just two goals in the postseason, and none in the College Cup. Senior midfielder Eric Bird was named an All-American for the second straight season and was selected by the Philadelphia Union in the MLS SuperDraft following the season.


The year prior, he mentored Virginia to the program’s fourth NCAA College Cup appearance during his tenure when he brought a young team into the final four. UVA posted a 13-6-5 record, recording wins over St. John’s, Marquette and Connecticut to punch its ticket to the College Cup. UVA also handed eventual national champion Notre Dame its lone loss of the 2013 season (2-0 in South Bend) and also bounced them from the ACC tournament in a penalty-kick shootout.


In 2009 Gelnovatch guided the Cavaliers to the ACC championship before taking the team on a classic run through the NCAA tournament, culminating with a thrilling shootout win over Akron in the NCAA Championship Game for UVA’s sixth NCAA title.


Midfielder Tony Tchani and goalkeeper Diego Restrepo were named First-Team All-Americans in 2009, while Will Bates was named the National Freshman of the Year. Gelnovatch, meanwhile, earned National Coach of the Year honors at the conclusion of the season.


Tchani was selected in the first round of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft to continue a strong pipeline of prominent soccer talent from Charlottesville to the professional ranks under Gelnovatch.


In 2006, Gelnovatch led the Cavaliers to their eighth College Cup appearance. UVA finished with a 17-4-1 overall record and a third-place showing in the ACC. Junior midfielder Nico Colaluca earned First-Team All-America honors from College Soccer News.


Gelnovatch had another successful season in 2005 as he guided the Cavaliers to a second-place finish in the ACC. Three Cavaliers earned All-ACC honors in 2005 as freshman forward Yannick Reyering was named First-Team All-ACC and an ACC All-Freshman team selection, while forward Adam Cristman and midfielder Nico Colaluca earned All-ACC Second Team honors.


In 2004, he led UVA to its sixth consecutive appearance in the ACC Championship Finals, where the Cavaliers were crowned conference champions for the third time during his tenure. Virginia made another deep run in NCAA Tournament, advancing to the quarterfinal round. Following the season, Gelnovatch was honored as the 2004 NSCAA/adidas South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.


In 2003, the Cavaliers turned in a record of 11-10-2 overall and saved their best performances for last. Gelnovatch led Virginia to its first ACC Championship since 1997 and kept alive its consecutive streak of NCAA Tournament appearance by advancing to the NCAA Third Round.


In 2002 after his team finished the season 15-7-0, Gelnovatch watched four of his players step into the professional ranks to pursue playing careers in Major League Soccer, including the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy Award winner and National Player of the Year nominee – Alecko Eskandarian. Eskandarian became the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft and was joined in the draft by teammates David Comfort, Kenny Arena and Jacob LeBlanc.


In 2001, Gelnovatch guided UVA through a fantastic regular season. He led Virginia to its first undefeated regular season since 1986 after going 16-0-1 overall, 6-0-0 in the ACC. More impressive than going undefeated in the conference, the Cavaliers became the first ACC team to ever go undefeated in the league after winning all of its games by shutout. Gelnovatch was named the ACC Coach of the Year after his Cavaliers finished the season 17-2-1.


In 2000, Gelnovatch led the Cavaliers to a 17-6-1 mark and a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Virginia entered the tournament as the fifth-seeded team after playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation.


In 1999, UVA went 14-9-1 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals and the ACC Finals. In 1998, Virginia finished 16-4-3 overall, advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals and Gelnovatch had two players named as finalists for the MAC Award and two players named finalists for the Hermann Trophy.


In 1997, the Cavaliers recorded the most wins ever under Gelnovatch (19), which ranks as the third highest win total in a single season at UVA, after the Cavaliers posted an overall record of 19-4-3. Virginia finished as the NCAA runner-up after falling in the championship game. UVA won the ACC Tournament title, outscoring its opponents by the count of 8-1 in three games. The Cavaliers also earned a share of the ACC regular-season title, finishing with a 3-1-2 mark in conference games.


In his first season at the helm of the UVA program in 1996, Gelnovatch guided his team to an overall record of 16-3-3 and an ACC regular season title. His 16 victories were the most ever by a first-year coach at Virginia with his .795 winning percentage also being the best by a UVA coach in his first season. Gelnovatch also became the first-ever Cavalier men’s soccer coach to lead his squad to the NCAA Tournament during his first year on the job. He was honored as the 1996 ACC Coach of the Year thanks to that feat.


ASSISTANT COACHING CAREER


Gelnovatch’s first coaching position at Virginia began in 1989 when he became a part-time assistant and he helped guide the Cavaliers to a share of the NCAA title and then an outright national championship in 1991. He was promoted to Arena’s top assistant in June 1992 and helped the program complete its unprecedented four-year run of national championships (1991-94) and a record-setting campaign in 1995, which included just the second unbeaten regular season (16-0-2) by any ACC team in 14 years. Virginia finished with a 21-1-2 record in 1995 after losing to Duke 3-2 in the NCAA semifinals.


During Gelnovatch’s years as an assistant, the UVA program compiled a record of 25-2-2 in the NCAA Tournament and a mark of 37-4-4 in the entire postseason (including the ACC Tournament). Virginia compiled an overall record of 138-18-14 (.853 winning percentage) during Gelnovatch’s tenure as an assistant coach.


After becoming a part of the UVA coaching staff, Gelnovatch helped recruit some of the greatest players to ever wear a Cavalier uniform. Virginia welcomed numerous high school All-Americans who went on to post All-America seasons on the collegiate level. Among the players that Gelnovatch helped recruit as a UVA assistant coach are National Players of the Year Mike Fisher and Ben Olsen and five players who competed for the U.S. in the 1996 Olympic games: Clint Peay, A.J. Wood, Brandon Pollard, Damian Silvera and Billy Walsh.


PLAYING CAREER


Gelnovatch graduated from Virginia in 1987 after playing a vital role on Cavalier teams that went 67-14-4 (.812) from 1983-86. He still ranks fifth on UVA’s career scoring list (118 points) and fifth on the school’s career goals list (49). From 1983-85, he teamed with UVA’s second all-time leading scorer Jeff Gaffney to form one of the most potent forward tandems in Cavalier history. As a senior in 1986, Gelnovatch became UVA’s third first-team All-American, while earning first-team All-ACC honors after being selected to the conference second-team his first three seasons. UVA made four NCAA Tournament appearances and captured three ACC championships during Gelnovatch’s collegiate years.


Following his collegiate career, Gelnovatch was drafted by the Minnesota Strikers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). His playing career also included three years in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) from 1990-92, and a stint as a starting defender for Arena’s D.C. United team in 1996.


Gelnovatch has rejoined Arena on several occasions, including as an assistant coach with the United States National Team in the 2002 World Cup. The U.S. team made a valiant run into the quarterfinal round of the World Cup and finished 2-2-1 in the event. In 1999, he was appointed to coach the Under-18 United States National Team.


PERSONAL


A native of Wall, N.J., Gelnovatch earned prep All-America honors while playing for Wall High School. He is married to the former Melissa Sanders. The couple has two children, Jake a former goalkeeper at Louisville and Sunny an All-American midfielder and 2019 National Champion at Division III powerhouse Messiah College.

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Mike Chulis

Virginia alumnus and three-time All-American Matt Chulis is in his 18th season on the coaching staff of the Virginia men’s soccer program in 2023, including his 12th as an associate head coach.


Chulis was instrumental in Virginia’s runs to the 2009 and 2014 NCAA Championships. During Chulis’ time on the UVA coaching staff, the Cavaliers reached 14-straight NCAA tournaments from 2007-2019 and made five NCAA College Cup appearances (2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2019).


Following the 2009 season, Chulis was elevated from assistant coach to associate head coach.


Prior to joining the UVA staff, Chulis spent several years playing professionally. He played for the Long Island Rough Riders in 2005 after spending three seasons (2002-04) in the United Soccer League (USL) playing for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Portland Timbers (2001).


Chulis spent time in Major League Soccer (MLS) playing for the Columbus Crew (1999-00) and the Chicago Fire (2001). Off the field, he served as the Super Y League Director for the Rough Riders. Chulis was a student assistant coach at Virginia while finishing up his bachelor’s degree in sociology during the 2004-05 academic year. He holds his USSF “A” coaching license and USSF national youth license.


One of the most decorated Cavalier defenders in school history, Chulis played four seasons for Virginia (1995-98). He was a three-time NSCAA All-American and three-time All-ACC first-team selection. Chulis was named NSCAA National Defender of the Year and was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy in 1998. He led the Cavaliers to 32 shutouts in four seasons. Chulis started 93 games (fifth in school history) and played 8,483 career minutes (second in program history).


Chulis earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Virginia in 2005.


He is married to Colleen Minnock Chulis. The couple has two sons, Luke and Declan, and a daughter, Adelle.

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Adam Perron

Adam Perron joined the Virginia men’s soccer coach in February of 2020. Perron comes to Charlottesville after serving as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at James Madison the past two seasons.


Perron helped JMU to two of the best seasons in program history, posting an overall record of 26-12-6. The Dukes qualified for two NCAA Tournaments and in 2018 reached the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time since 1995. JMU became a fixture in the national polls, ranking as high as No. 14 in 2019 and topping out at No. 10 in 2018. In 2018, Perron and the JMU staff were recognized as the United Soccer Coaches Regional Staff of the Year. The Dukes won a pair of CAA Tournament titles and the 2018 Regular Season championship in his tenure. JMU goalkeepers thrived under his direction, setting the program single-season shutout record in 2018 with 13 and posting a 0.57 goals against average in the same season, third-lowest in the nation. A former collegiate and professional goalkeeper, Perron will primarily work with the Virginia goalkeepers, recruiting efforts and in-game strategy.


Prior to JMU, Perron served as primary recruiter and goalkeeping coach at Division II Southern New Hampshire University. In two seasons, Perron guided the goalkeepers to multiple accolades, including First Team All-America honors and the Northeast 10 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year award. In 2015, the team finished in the top three nationally in goals-against average with a 0.47 clip.


Additionally, in 2017, Perron served as the head coach of the Seacoast Academy under-19 team. While working with Seacoast Academy, Perron was the assistant coach for the Seacoast United Phantoms in the Premier Developmental League (PDL).


In 2016, Perron was the assistant/goalkeeper coach at Ohio State. In his sole year with the program, Perron’s starting goalkeeper was unanimously named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in addition to landing on the Top Drawer Soccer Best Freshman Second Team.


Perron played professional soccer for multiple teams in the USL-PDL, played three years with the Western Massachusetts Pioneers (2006-2009), the Massachusetts Twisters (2007-2009) and received a training camp invite from the Rochester Rhinos in 2010. Most recently Perron played in the summers of 2013 and 2014 for the Portland Phoenix in the USL-PDL, where Perron served as the team captain in the 2013 campaign.


Perron received his bachelor’s degree in sport management from Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire in 2006, where Perron was a four-year starter as a goalkeeper. With the Chargers, Perron sits second all-time in wins as a goalie, was a two-time All-Conference selection (2002 and 2005) and was the team MVP in 2004. Perron earned his master’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in social sciences from Utica College in 2012. He received his National Soccer Coaches Association of America diploma in 2010.

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