CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Labor Day weekend is a nice respite between the heat of summer and the hustle of fall, even for diligent sportswriters. Here’s your Tuesday rundown of everything that happened over the long weekend for UVA athletics and what’s coming up this week.

UVA Football is 1-0! The Hoos charged out of the tunnel to a capacity crowd at Scott Stadium to battle the Richmond Spiders, kicking off the 2024 season on Saturday, August 31st. Anthony Colandrea earned the starting job after a closely observed position battle with Tony Muskett. However, Coach Tony Elliot says he will be relying on both quarterbacks to win games this year. On UVA Strong Day, a day to commemorate the lives of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry—the UVA players shot and killed in November 2022—the Cavaliers played with heavy but determined hearts. Colandrea showcased his skills by starting the scoring with a dynamic 35-yard run and a 35-yard touchdown pass to transfer receiver Trell Harris. Colandrea completed 17 passes for 297 yards, which was 40 more yards than the Richmond Spiders managed against UVA’s defense (257), along with 49 rushing yards. On the defensive side, Charlottesville native and Hoos Safety Jonas Sanker, alongside Antonio Clary, each notched eight tackles in a game where the defense surrendered 17 points on 257 yards of total offense. Despite a lengthy weather delay, the Hoos wrapped up the game late at night, sending the Wahoo Faithful home happy with a resounding victory: Virginia 34, Richmond 17. Next week, they head to Winston-Salem for a battle with the Demon Deacons on national television. Kickoff is this Saturday, September 7th, at 7:00 PM on ESPN2. The Demon Deacons are also coming off a commanding 45-13 victory at home against North Carolina A&T.

Women’s Soccer continues to roll, winning their fifth game of the year against the JMU Dukes on Sunday, 3-0. You can find our full wrap-up of that game HERE! The newly crowned #7 team in the country will take on the VCU Rams this Thursday at 7:00 PM in Richmond on ESPN+, before returning home on Sunday for a 2:00 PM kickoff against Howard in the 2024 Mental Health Awareness game. Howard is 1-2-2 on the year, coming off a 2-0 defeat at home against UMBC on Sunday.

Men’s Soccer has had a solid yet slightly sluggish start to their season. They put five past St. Joe’s at home last Thursday and looked to carry momentum into a clash with Maryland on Monday. It was the first time the Hoos played on Ludwig Field since 2015, and they only left with a point, with the game finishing in a 1-1 draw. You can read our full wrap-up of that game HERE! UVA opens conference play in the ACC against the Duke Blue Devils at Klockner Stadium this Friday night at 6:00 PM, and you can watch that on ACCN. Duke is 2-1-1 so far this year and is coming off a 14-1 victory at home over Averett on Sunday.

UVA Volleyball started their season strong in Norfolk, winning all three matches in the Quest for the Crown Invitational at Old Dominion. The Hoos beat Marist (25-9, 25-12, 25-13), William & Mary (25-15, 25-20, 25-14), and ODU in three hard-fought sets to close out the invitational (26-24, 26-24, 25-19), featuring a 6-point comeback in the third set to wrap up the match. Standout performances included Elayna Duprey (20 total kills, 4.25 average per match), Milan Gomillion (41 total digs), and Zoey Dodd (.800 hitting percentage during the William & Mary match). The Hoos will return home to host the Cavalier Classic Tournament with three matches set for this weekend. They will play Coastal Carolina on Friday at 6:30 PM and two matches against Hofstra on Saturday at 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM. All three matches will be broadcast on ACCNX. Coastal Carolina is coming off a 22-10 season in 2023 but dropped all three games last weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Hofstra was 18-11 last year and went 2-1 at the Wake Forest Invitational to begin their season, with wins over Wake Forest and Navy, and a loss to West Virginia.

#3 UVA Field Hockey opened the season in State College, Pennsylvania, with a victory against the Penn State Nittany Lions, thanks to two juniors who scored their first career goals. Sloan Davidson corralled a loose ball in the circle and finished clinically to give the Hoos the lead after just four minutes of play. Sophia Gladieux tied the match at 1 in the third period after a first half in which the Nittany Lions failed to place a shot on goal. The Penn State attacker converted the fourth of a series of four straight penalty corners. However, a penalty corner for the Hoos saw a Jans Croon shot parried away by keeper Abby Deverka, opening a scoring opportunity for Caroline Nemec, who rattled the net for her first collegiate goal with three minutes remaining in the match. The scoreline held, and the Hoos left Pennsylvania as victors. They will play their home opener of 2024 against another Pennsylvania team, the Temple Owls, on Friday, September 5th, at 5:00 PM on ACCNX. The Owls are 2-0 with victories against Queens (7-0) and Lock Haven (6-0). They are coming off an 11-8 season that saw them lose a tough opening match of the Big East tournament to Old Dominion in 2023.

Virginia Men’s Cross Country swept both the individual and team titles at the Spider Alumni Open in Richmond on Saturday, with Hoos finishing in the first seven places. Justin Wachtel and Andrew Jones placed first and second, with Wachtel finishing with a time of 17:56.2, good enough to win Men’s ACC Performer of the Week honors. The women’s team also won the team title and earned five of the top seven places in their race. UVA’s Gillian Bushee won the race with a 4k time of 13:31.1, and her teammates took third, fourth, fifth, and sixth in the top seven. Cross Country hosts the Virginia Invitational next week, on September 14th.

Lastly, Women’s Golf is currently abroad preparing to compete in the Pan-Pacific UGSL tournament in Shizuoka, Japan. The tournament begins tomorrow and ends on Friday, September 6th.

See you next week, and go Hoos!