The Virginia men’s soccer squad will open its 2026 preseason with a home matchup against VMI at Klöckner Stadium on Saturday, August 8, kicking off at 5 p.m. The exhibition is the first of three preseason games the Cavaliers will play in the coming week.
Returning talent and new additions
Virginia brings back four players who started double‑digit games in 2025, highlighted by Sebastian Pop, who logged every minute of the previous campaign, amassing 1,720 minutes on the field.
Midfielder Marco Dos Santos, who led the team with six assists — four of them on game‑winning goals — returns to anchor the midfield and add creative firepower.
The roster also welcomes three new transfers who joined the program in January, expanding depth and providing additional options as the team fine‑tunes its tactics.
Virginia capped the 2025 season by capturing the ACC regular‑season championship and finishing as tournament runners‑up, a performance that earned the Cavaliers a top‑four seed in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in program history.
The squad also stands among just three Division I programs to have secured a first‑round bye in each of the past four seasons, underscoring its consistent pedigree and national relevance.