Monday Motivation: Virginia Soccer is here to make everything OK

So, so close…but so far, far away.

Here’s my favorite gif to cheer you up.

Ok good. All better. Let’s get to the wins!

Rapid Fire

- Men’s Tennis players Luca Corinteli and J.C. Aragone played in the inaugural Hall of Fame/ITA Grass Court Invitational, with both Virginia fourth years finishing the weekend with a record of 2-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles. The duo was selected to participate in the first ITA national event of the season, along with players from the top Division I teams in the country.

- The ACC released the 2016-2017 Men’s Basketball schedule (finally!). Virginia once again has a challenging out of conference slate with reigning national champion Villanova, West Virginia, and Cal on the docket. In conference highlights, the Hoos will host Duke, head to Syracuse, and play a home and home with Louisville and North Carolina. The season starts officially in just 11 days. Get stoked!

- Speaking of basketball, members of the UVA basketball team donated some time to volunteer work this week.

Additionally, London Perrantes, Dre Hunter, and Ty Jerome showed some support for the Virginia Women’s Soccer team as they took on Virginia Tech in the year’s first Commonwealth Clash matchup (more on that later).

Has anyone told the guys they don’t need to get Orange Passport points to get into basketball games?

- Various Virginia teams participated in the Gene Arnold Memorial Special Olympics Pepsi 10k over the weekend, helping raise money for the Special Olympics. Men’s Lacrosse has volunteered to handle race logistics and manned the course for the last 18 years, something that former head coach Dom Starsia started. New head coach Lars Tiffany kept the tradition alive this past weekend, and even competed in the event.

Along with men’s lacrosse, several Virginia teams support the event by racing, including swim and dive, women’s lacrosse, and wrestling.

- A huge shoutout to UConn’s place kicker Bobby Puyol for being a classy guy.

Team of the Week

Virginia Women’s Soccer hosted Virginia Tech this week in the season’s first Commonwealth Clash game. The No. 5 Hoos continued their season shutout at home, blanking the No.17 Hokies 2-0 behind two goals from fourth year defender Kristen McNabb.

Just shy of 4,000 fans came out to Klockner to cheer on the ladies. Way to go, Hoos!

Wahoo of the Week

Men’s Soccer finished a close second for team of the week for their work this past week. In a 3-0 win over VCU, the Hoos had goals from Edward Opoku, Pablo Aguilar, and Wesley Wade.

However, this week’s StLMMPotW goes to redshirt fourth year Marcus Salandy-Defour for his two goal performance that helped the No.17 Hoos come back to tie No.6 Clemson. Salandy-Defour scored the first goal of the game to give Virginia a lead just two minutes into the game, but the Tigers scored three straight in the first half to take a two-goal lead into intermission. He struck again in the second half to breathe some life into the Cavaliers, who tied the game on a penalty kick.

Next, UVA heads to Louisville on Saturday.

Go Hoos!