#2 UVA women’s soccer blasts Wake Forest, 5-0

The second-ranked UVA women’s soccer team remained unbeaten on the season with a 5-0 victory over Wake Forest Thursday night at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers (10-0, 2-0 ACC) extended their ACC regular season win streak to 17 games, while the Demon Deacons (3-5-1, 1-1 ACC) allowed five goals in a game for the first time since 2009.

Senior midfielder Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) led Virginia with two goals and an assist. Sophomores Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.) and Morgan Reuther (Chantilly, Va.) and junior Emily Sonnett (Marietta, Ga.) also scored for the Cavaliers.

“I thought we did good job of keeping up the attack throughout the game,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “We have a lot of respect for Wake. They are a difficult team to break down and it isn’t often that they give up five goals. Even up 2-0 at halftime, we weren’t comfortable because we know how good they are and how well they make adjustments at halftime. We got a break on a couple of the goals, but you need to make your own breaks. We put ourselves in position to get those breaks with how we attacked tonight.”

The Cavaliers took the lead in the 12th minute of action. Cox headed in a corner kick from Danielle Colaprico (Freehold, N.J.) for her third goal of the season, scoring off of Colaprico’s team-leading seventh assist of the season. The lead doubled in the 28th minute as Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) was fouled just outside the box. Brian took the free kick that was redirected by a Wake defender to wrong-foot keeper Lindsay Preston and slide into the net for Brian’s second goal of the season. Virginia held that 2-0 advantage at halftime, outshooting Wake Forest 13-2 over the first 45 minutes.

Brian struck for the second time in the 65th minute, as she received a pass from Doniak at the top of the box and fired a shot that once again deflected off a defender and into the corner of the net. Four minutes later, Brian set up the fourth goal of the night as her cross was one-timed in by Reuther for her second goal of the year. For Brian, the five-point night (two goals, one assist) brought her career total to 102 points, becoming the fifth Cavalier to reach the 100-point milestone (Angela Hucles, Lindsay Gusick, Caroline Miller, Andrea Rubio).

The Cavaliers added a final goal in the 80th minute. Wake attempted to clear a Virginia corner kick, but the ball bounced right to Sonnett, who turned and fired for her second goal of the season. It was the eighth goal of the year by a Cavalier defender, one shy of last year’s school record of nine goals from the back line.

Overall, Virginia outshot Wake Forest 27-6 and had a 9-1 corner kick advantage. Sophomore Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) didn’t need to make a save to post her third shutout of the season, the 12th of her career. Preston made six saves at the other end for the Demon Deacons.
The Cavaliers’ 17-game ACC regular season win streak is the fourth longest in conference history. Virginia also extended its home win streak to 26 matches and its win streak against non-conference opponents to 41 games.

The Cavaliers will play their first ranked opponent of the season on Sunday with a visit to No. 5 Florida State. Game time in Tallahassee is 4 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPNU.