2023-24 UVA Athletics Year in Review Fourth consecutive NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship highlights season!

Baseball advanced to its third Men's College World Series in the last four seasons.

Field Hockey reached its sixth NCAA Final Four.

Men’s Lacrosse advanced to its 26th NCAA Final Four.

Men’s Tennis, Women's Tennis (pictured) and Men's Golf advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field won its first outright ACC title and finished eighth at the NCAA Championships.

Softball advanced to its first NCAA Regional final.

Men’s basketball earned its 26th NCAA Tournament berth and won 23 or more games for the 10th time under head coach Tony Bennett.

UVA Strong

To kick off the fall, Virginia paid tribute to the three football players – D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler – who were killed during a campus shooting in November of 2022. They were commemorated during the “UVA Strong” game that was much more than a football contest between the Cavaliers and James Madison. During a special pre-game ceremony that included the family and friends of the three players on the field, UVA unveiled permanent plaques recognizing the three players in the stadium’s Legends Walk, special field markings for the season and a permanent 1-15-41 sign in the south end zone.

Gretchen Walsh

No single student-athlete had a better year at UVA than junior swimmer Gretchen Walsh. In addition to her Olympic success, she helped UVA win its fourth consecutive NCAA team title, won seven NCAA individual/relay titles, was named the national collegiate swimmer of the year, a first-team Academic All-American and the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for her sport.

Mike Hollins

After suffering gunshot injuries during the shooting that took three of his teammates’ lives, Mike Hollins’ remarkable comeback to rejoin the Cavalier football program for the 2023 season drew national attention. By season’s end, he was recognized for his courage and perseverance by being named the winner of multi character-based awards. The ACC honored him as the Brian Piccolo Award winner. The Orange Bowl presented him with its Courage Award. He was named the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year given out by the College Sports Communicators, Associated Press and the Fiesta Bowl and he was presented the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.

Malik Washington

On the way to earning All-America honors, UVA wide receiver Malik Washington, a graduate transfer from Northwestern, produced one of the most productive seasons in ACC football history. He caught a school record 110 passes for 1,426 yards – also a school record. His catch total was the most in the country and it also allowed him to break the ACC single-season record.

Shane Cohen won the NCAA 800-meter title at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

NCAA champion Alex Walsh became the most successful swimmer in ACC history, picking up her 26th individual or relay title during this year’s championship meet.

NCAA champion Jasmine Nocentini

NCAA champion Maxine Parker

NCAA champion Carly Novelline

Swimming and Diving head coach Todd DeSorbo was named the ACC and National Coach of the Year and later directed Team USA during the women’s swimming competition.

Baseball coach Brian O’Connor was inducted into the the 2024 American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Vin Lananna was named the Southeast Region Men's Track & Field Coach of the Year and ACC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.

Sonia LaMonica was honored as the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Co-Coach of the Year during her first year on Grounds.

Sara O’Leary was tabbed as the ACC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year.

For the first time ever, the Cavalier volleyball team played a match at John Paul Jones Arena. A program-record crowd of 3,162, well above the capacity of Mem Gym, was whipped into a frenzy when UVA rallied from a 0-2 deficit to topple rival Virginia Tech. That wasn’t the only record crowd in JPJ that featured a stunning victory against the Hokies.

On March 3, the Cavalier women’s basketball team toppled No. 5 Virginia Tech in front of 11,975 fans. The attendance figure is the highest ever recorded in a college women’s basketball game in the commonwealth of Virginia. It marked UVA’s first win over a top-five opponent since the 2017 season.

The fall saw UVA play host to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. A sellout crowd of more than 5,000 running fans poured into Panorama Farms in Albemarle County to cheer on the runners, including both the UVA men’s and women’s teams.

The past year saw significant progress on the finalization of the athletic department’s Master Plan. The 93,000 square-foot Molly and Robert Hardie Football Operations Center opened as the new home for the Cavalier program.

The topping-off ceremony took place for the new Harrison Family Olympic Sports Center that is set to open in the summer of 2025. In addition to housing multiple Cavalier athletic programs, the Harrison Center will feature a performance training center, strength and conditioning facilities, tutoring and academic support spaces and a hall of champions.