After a long summer drought, Virginia’s fall sports season is finally here. Women's soccer kicks off the 2025-26 year at West Virginia tonight, and most programs begin regular season play in less than two weeks.
Every program enters the year with a unique situation. Cross country will have to run without the talents of Margot Appleton or Gary Martin for the first time in ages, women’s soccer is coming off of an early postseason exit and football brought in a tsunami of transfers.
One thing that every program shares, however, is hope. There is reason to believe that the fall of 2025 could shape up to yield promising results. Below, three writers share their takes on what is to come.
Across all fall programs, what is the most important storyline?
Xander Tilock, Sports Editor: The biggest storyline, of course, is the development of Virginia football. The Cavalier faithful have done the “will we, won’t we” dance with Coach Tony Elliott’s program for the past four years, and this time, it is absolutely his last chance to right the ship and earn a bowl game berth. He has what should be the most complete roster across his tenure, and with ample investment, it is time to see some success — or else Virginia should be in the market for a new head football coach.
Ryan Weiner, Senior Associate: The top story to keep track of this season is how men’s soccer responds to their failures in 2024. After starting the season ranked 13th in 2024, they floundered and eked out a 11-7-3 record and a second round loss in the NCAA tournament. With the team ranked 17th in the opening poll for the 2025 season, it will be intriguing to see how Coach George Gelnovatch and company respond to the pressure. With a slew of new players joining the fray and some critical pieces from 2024 staying, Virginia will either see big improvement or another perfect storm of disappointment.
Emory Huffman, Senior Writer: Will field hockey restore excellence to fall sports for the Cavaliers? Virginia has a bevy of consistently excellent winter and spring teams, but last season was a return to earth for many of those programs, including both men’s and women’s soccer. Field hockey, perhaps Virginia’s most successful fall sport last season, had a stellar season but failed to advance past the NCAA quarterfinals. Such success came in spite of coaching turnover and a small class of incoming freshmen — after a full season with Coach Ole Keusgen at the helm, field hockey is the most prepared for a deep run. Will they find their way to the biggest stage in 2025-26?
Which student-athlete will be the “Fall MVP”?
XT: I’ll take senior forward Maggie Cagle of women’s soccer. That group of Cavaliers will go as far as Cagle takes them. She led Virginia in goals last year with seven and also tied for the team lead in assists with five. Even when she’s not netting clutch goals, she is a major focus of an opposing defense. As a three-time All-ACC honoree, Cagle is a true superstar. Maybe stars in other sports will put together a more impressive season this fall, but Cagle will definitely be the most valuable to her team’s success.
RW: It may be cliché, but there is no athlete more valuable to a school’s athletic program than their starting quarterback. It is the most important position in the highest revenue sport. Regardless, graduate Chandler Morris is absolutely the most valuable player in many ways. His wealth of experience, dual-threat ability and poise in the pocket is something Virginia has lacked for a few years. All of these skills plus an influx in transfer talent around him means a successful season from Morris could lead the Cavaliers to eight or nine wins, their most since 2019.
EH: Junior goalkeeper Nilou Lempers will build upon a stellar postseason performance and propel field hockey on a deep postseason run. Lempers saw limited action prior to postseason play but revitalized the Virginia defense once she took the reins, holding No. 2 Northwestern to just two goals in the Cavaliers’ season-ending loss in the NCAA quarterfinals. Across several games against ranked opponents, Lempers showed her mettle, and now, Lempers has a full season as the starting goalkeeper ahead of her. Expect her to rise to the occasion.
What is your hottest take for the fall sports season?
XT: Every fall sports program makes the postseason. That should be easily attainable for a few teams — men’s soccer, women’s soccer, cross country and field hockey. But I am going to go out on a limb and predict that football and volleyball will finally take the next step forward in their respective developments. Even though those programs have lost some key contributors to graduation, both coaches have hit the transfer portal hard. Perhaps they have struck gold with those additions and will shock the ACC.
RW: Elliott will not be on the same contract in 2026, regardless of whether or not Virginia makes a bowl game. While stagnation and trusting the process has been the lay of the land for football for the past few years, there are no excuses for Elliott anymore. Now, it appears as if there are only two ways this season goes — either Elliott and company win seven or more games and he receives a contract extension, or he flops and is fired. Regardless of the outcome, it is becoming more and more clear that Elliott’s current contract, which expires in 2028, will not end in 2028.
EH: No team is as primed for success as field hockey. Last season, Virginia was operating with Keusgen, in his first season as head coach. The Cavaliers lost a host of veteran contributors and did not add a particularly large amount of new talent, yet they still maintained a top-five ranking for nearly the entire season. With Keusgen now established as the captain of the program and a high-powered recruiting class arriving on Grounds, the time is right for Virginia field hockey to take the leap.
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