Across the Grounds with Steve Brindle: UVA Fall Sports and Beyond

For this week’s article, I was thinking about “The Pluses and Minuses of Rushing a Football Field After a Spectacular Win” but then I would become Victim #20 after Carla was done with me! Instead, I want to address a few other fall sports whose past and current records deserve mention. They also deserve closer scrutiny by you, the Hoos fan, who is looking for broader ways to celebrate.

Highest honors have already been bestowed upon our Women’s Swimming Team. Todd DeSorbo’s ladies won their FIFTH consecutive NCAA team trophy in 2024-25 and are #1 in the land again in the current poll. American women won 19 medals in the Paris Olympics, 11 of which were earned by UVA women! Todd is working hard to bring some of that success to the men’s team, currently ranked #18. Two of his incoming class are very special …. Maximus Williamson, the #1 recruit in the country and Thomas Heilman, a Paris Olympian as a high school senior. Todd took over the men’s and women’s programs in 2017. He has led his team to 5 NCAA titles and 7 ACC championships. Not too shabby. If a Hoos swim meet is a first on your schedule, the Aquatic and Fitness Center is adjacent to Scott Stadium. Root hard!

The UVA soccer and lacrosse teams play at Klockner Stadium, adjacent to Davenport Field. (I’ll save lacrosse coverage for their spring season.) Steve Swanson’s Women’s Soccer Team is currently 9-0-1 and #1 in national polls. Steve has been at the helm on Grounds for 25 of his total 35 years of coaching collegiate soccer. His career record at UVA: 384-113-63. Awarded 2013 NCAA Coach of the Year and 3x ACC Coach of the Year, he also guided the team to 3 College Cup appearances. Steve has has led his teams to 6 conference championships, 29 NCAA Tournament appearances and 33 consecutive winning seasons. The 488 career wins as head coach puts Swanson in the lofty 400-win club and has yielded 22 Virginia All American honors, including back-to-back MAC Herman Trophy winner Morgan Brian. The past 13 years have been split with the U.S. Women’s National Team for which he won a pair of World Cups. When you find your seat at Klockner, pay special attention to standouts #10 Maggie Cagle and #22 Lia Godfrey and whole bunch of great teammates.

The Men’s #16 ranked Soccer Team is no slouch under the guidance of George Gelnovatch. National championships in 2009 and 2014, 24 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (longest in history), 5 ACC tournament titles, and 60 players that have gone on to play professional soccer. George was himself quite a player, named as a 1983 First Team high school All-American and as a 1986 First Team All-American at University of Virginia. He went on to play 10 years in the ASL and MISL.

After 8 seasons in various UVA field hockey coaching roles under the very successful Michelle Madison, Ole Kristen assumed the reigns in 2023. His record since then is 32-12 As the 9th head coach in program history, Ole has coached All Americans 17 times. (Among them, Tara Vittese was named National Player of the Year 3 times in her 1st 3 years.) UNC and, more recently, Northwestern have dominated the finals of college field hockey while

Virginia has suffered the pain of overtime losses to both. UVA is on their heels at very least and your vocal support will be much appreciated on the Blue Field.

My intention today was to highlight several sports, not named basketball or baseball, for which UVA can be very proud. Men’s Golf and Coach Bowen Sargent were runner ups to Oklahoma State in the NCAA finals last year. Andres Pedroso of Men’s Tennis was the ITA Coach of the Year in 2023 when the Hoos were 2-time NCAA Champions. Lars Tiffany has won recent back-to-back Men’s Lacrosse championships. Many programs are on the rise and incredible facilities, including the new Olympic Sports Center, will be great draws. A spine-tingling Scott Stadium win speaks for itself and hopefully a lot of quality recruits watched the fun. Greg Odum and Chris Pollard are banging at the door! Finally, AD Carla Williams has made it perfectly clear that close, well fought games in which we lose is no longer acceptable. WINNING is the only game in town!