The top-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team extended its win streak to 15 games with a 5-0 victory over NC State Thursday at the Dail Soccer Field. The Cavaliers (15-0, 9-0 ACC) remained the nation’s only unbeaten and untied squad, while the Wolfpack (6-10, 1-9 ACC) suffered its eighth straight defeat.
Sophomore forward Brittany Ratcliffe (Williamstown, N.J.) had two goals and junior midfielder Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) had three assists to lead the Cavaliers. Senior Gloria Douglas (Fayetteville, N.C.), sophomore Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) and junior Mary Morgan (Norfolk, Va.) also scored for Virginia.
“I thought it was a really good performance tonight,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “Obviously we got the result, but I thought we played very well on both sides of the ball and scored some great goals.”
The Cavaliers wasted little time taking the lead, scoring in the fourth minute of play. Brian threaded a ball to Douglas, who fired a left-footed blast for her third goal of the season.
The lead was doubled in the 20th minute on another pinpoint pass from Brian. After junior Danielle Colaprico (Freehold, N.J.) won the ball in the midfield, she passed to Brian who found the run of Doniak. Doniak ran onto the pass and chipped the ball over the keeper for her team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Ratcliffe came off the bench and extended the advantage to 4-0 with a pair of goals 83 seconds apart. In the 30th minute she headed in a cross from first-year midfielder Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) to make the score 3-0. Just over a minute later, Brian set up her third goal of the night by slipping a ball to Ratcliffe, who finished her second of the night and 10th of the season. Virginia took that 4-0 advantage into the break, its largest halftime lead since a 5-0 lead en route to a 9-1 victory over Liberty on Aug. 26, 2011.
Brian’s three assists were a career-high as she became the first Cavalier to record three assists in a game since Lauren Alwine against Arizona State on Sept. 2, 2011. She will fly to San Antonio on Friday to join the United States Women’s National Team for Sunday’s friendly against Australia at the Alamodome.
Virginia added a final goal in the 88th minute to make the final margin 5-0. Morgan received a ball from Shaffer at the top of the box and fired a shot inside the far post for her first career goal. She became the 12th different Cavalier to score a goal this season.
“We got a lot of good performances off the bench today,” said Swanson. “We have a lot of players that we want to give minutes to and they did a tremendous job tonight. It was good, especially at this time when we are in the middle of this road trip, to be able to get good minutes for a lot of players. I thought the level of play, no matter who was on the field, was very high tonight.”
Overall, Virginia outshot NC State 19-7 and had a 5-1 corner kick advantage. Senior goalkeeper Danielle DeLisle (Baltimore, Md.) made four saves over the first 80 minutes before redshirt-freshman Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax, Va.) made her collegiate debut by playing the final 10 minutes. The pair combined to post the Cavaliers’ ninth shutout of the season. Mackenzie Stelljes made three saves at the other end for NC State.
Virginia will conclude its regular season road schedule Sunday with a matchup with No. 4 and reigning NCAA Champion North Carolina. Game time in Chapel Hill is 1 p.m. The Cavaliers end the regular season with a three-game homestand, beginning Oct. 24 against Miami.
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Chris Graham
