Women’s soccer: #1 UVA hosts Harvard to kick off homestand

The top-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team kicks off a five-game home stand this Friday night at 7 p.m. when the Cavaliers (4-0-1) host Harvard (1-2-1) at Klöckner Stadium.

The Cavaliers return from a trip to the west coast where Virginia faced off against a pair of nationally-ranked teams, picking up a win over No. 8 UCLA and playing No. 19 Pepperdine to a draw.

Junior defender Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.) leads the squad in goals after delivering a hat trick in the season opener against UNC-Wilmington and hitting the game-winner against No. 8 UCLA a week ago to complete a rally for the Cavaliers. She is tied with freshman midfielder Courtney Petersen (Canton, Mich.) in points as Petersen has scored three goals, including the game-winner against Cal Poly, and delivered a pair of assists on the year.

Petersen helped keep the Cavaliers in the top spot in the national rankings and undefeated on the season when she scored on a direct kick in the 85th minute against Pepperdine this past weekend. Trailing 2-1, Petersen fired the kick over the wall and it dipped in over the hands of the leaping keeper to tie the match. The two teams then battled to the draw to close out the west coast weekend for Virginia.

The Cavaliers have gotten solid production in net as junior Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax. Va.) and junior Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) have split time in goal. Ferrari has started all five matches and took the decision in the first three wins, while Stearns close things out against nationally ranked UCLA and Pepperdine to pick up the win over the Bruins and the draw with the Waves.

Emily Sonnett (Marietta, Ga.) anchors a back line that has limited teams to four goals through five matches on the year. The Cavaliers have posted a pair of shutouts and hold an active win streak of 35 consecutive home games, the longest active streak in the nation and the sixth longest home win streak in NCAA history.