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Ben Hristoforatos‘ call to tell Virginia head coach Kevin Cassese that he was going to commit to the ‘Hoos didn’t exactly go as planned.
“I tried to call him five times and the call just wouldn’t go through for some reason,” Hristoforatos said with a laugh. “On the sixth, I’m saying how I excited I am to go win some national championships and I couldn’t hear him and the call disconnected.”
Not exactly the way you draw it up, but ultimately, the NLF’s No. 3 player in the class of 2028 is a Cavalier. The Team 91 Long Island standout by way of Chaminade (N.Y.) was the most sought-after midfielder in the class after a dynamic summer that featured him earning MVP honors at the NLF National Championships after 91 rolled to a title. The 6-1, 185-pounder earned praise from college coaches for his all-around game, but it’s his dodging and initiating ability that drew the most attention. He’ll fit in perfectly with Virginia, which, as you may have heard, doesn’t exactly have scrubs for Hristoforatos to work with.
Hristoforatos becomes the seventh – yes, really – five-star recruit of the ’28 cycle for Cassese and the ‘Hoos. He’s the fifth top-10 recruit for UVA, joining No. 5 Sawyer Bligh (Brunswick, Conn. / West Coast Starz / midfield), No. 6 Hunter Hanford (Brunswick, Conn. / Eclipse / lefty attack), No. 7 Max Melchionni (Delbarton, N.J. / Leading Edge / LSM) and No. 8 Wayte McKnight (Episcopal of Dallas, Texas / attack). Top-20 recruits Austin Tuttle (Brunswick, Conn. / West Coast Starz / attack) and Mason Kennedy (Lassiter, Ga. / Thunder / LSM/defense) round out the five-star group.
“This is going to be a special group,” Hristoforatos said. “There are no words to explain it. I think we’re going to be really good and I think that we’re going to have the opportunity to compete for a championship all five years. UVA just felt different to me. I had such a great time and I love the coaches. Coach Cassese knows my dad and he’s always been so nice. I’ve been his No. 1 guy throughout the whole year. It’s who I wanted to play for and I can’t wait to play for him.”
A Long Road to Charlottesville
Hristoforatos has taken a unique road to being a five-star prospect. He’s always been talented, but he battled a slew of injuries in middle school that temporarily sidetracked him. Hristoforatos had surgery for osteochondritis dissecans, which is as pleasant as it sounds.
“It’s when there’s dead bone in your knee and they had to put bone paste in,” Hristoforatos explained. “It took me eight months to recover. I had dissolvable screws in my knee and they just kind of floated around for a while, which kept me out for a few weeks at a time. It happened twice in seventh grade and twice in eighth grade, and when they’re floating around, the knee gets very swollen and I couldn’t run or bend it fully. That was about four weeks of recovery every time.”
We’re not done there, though.
“I was playing varsity for Port Washington in eighth grade and got turf toe,” Hristoforatos added. “I thought that playing varsity in eighth grade was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I played through it. Then I slightly tore my hamstring and broke my L5 verterbra in my back, so I missed that summer and part of the fall.”
“He Can Do Anything”
With his body fully healed up, Hristoforatos decided to make the move to Team 91 for his recruiting year. His younger brother, Matthew, is arguably one of the country’s top defensemen in the class of 2029 and played for the 91 Chaos. The elder Hristoforatos came to one of his brother’s practices, where he linked up with ’28 Venom coach Jimmy Mulé, and from there, he realized that he wanted to make the move.
“I just thought that the opportunity at 91 was better,” Hristoforatos said. “I knew Coach (Jason) Lavey and my dad told me that Coach Mulé would help me because he knows a lot of college coaches. We had a 45-minute conversation and I knew I wanted to come over. I knew that we could compete to be the No. 1 team and when I play with better players, I play better.”
Since then, Hristoforatos has been dominant at every turn. He had a strong spring as the lone sophomore on Chaminade’s varsity, then parlayed it into a lights-out summer with 91. He’ll fit in seamlessly with UVA’s loaded class, and his potential is sky-high.
“Ben is the most complete midfielder in the class of 2028,” Mulé said. “He thrives in any situation anywhere on the field and he has a knack for coming up big in big moments. Ben was the biggest driving force in our run to an NLF national championship. He was unstoppable in the IMLCA championship when he had a hat trick and helped us overcome an early deficit. He can do anything that you ask of him and he’s just a winner. I think that Ben is going to make a monumental impact for Virginia.”