Will Bates is one key player for UVa.

Twelve players on the 2011 Virginia men’s soccer team will have experienced, in just two years, more emotional extremes than most college athletes experience during a complete four-year career. The Cavaliers will attempt to utilize this bevy of experiences from the last two years, including come-from-behind wins, underperformances and unexpected losses, and a wealth of tightly contested conference games, to return to 2009 form.

Just a year after the Cavaliers embarked on the 2009 postseason run which culminated in their incredible National Championship victory, a superlatively as sobering scene played out at Klockner Stadium in 2010. The Cavaliers, whose initially promising season fizzled as they lost two of their last three games, exited the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a disappointing loss to Old Dominion, despite dominating the game. Only two Cavaliers graduated, however, which means that a majority of the starting 11 will return eager to redeem themselves and restore the program to its 2009 prestige.

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