Women’s soccer: #1 UVA travels to #8 UCLA on Friday

The top-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team hits the road for the first time this weekend as the Cavaliers (3-0-0) will travel to face No. 8 UCLA (2-1-0) at 10 p.m. ET on Friday night. It’s the first of a pair of matches against nationally-ranked teams on the weekend for Virginia.

Virginia last met UCLA in the 2014 season, traveling to face the Bruins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers picked up a 2-1 win over the then top-ranked Bruins to advance to the College Cup.

The Cavaliers enter the match coming off three straight wins that include shutouts in the first two contests of the season. Virginia has allowed only one goal on the season, a second half goal to Delaware in the last outing – a match the Cavaliers won 6-1.

Virginia has scored 16 goals on the season while allowing only the one goal.

Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.) leads a group of 10 different players who have scored goals for the Cavaliers this season. Cox delivered a hat trick in the season-opener against UNC-Wilmington and has six points on the season to lead the team.  She is tied with freshman Courtney Petersen (Canton, Mich.) as points leader on the team. Petersen scored a pair of goals last weekend in wins over Cal Poly and Delaware, including the game winner against the Mustangs on Friday night.

Senior Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) leads the team with three assists and also has a goal on the year as she looks to take over the top spot in points and goals in the Virginia record book. Doniak is a member of the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy.

The Cavalier defense has been stout with Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax, Va.) and Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) have split time in goal. Ferrari has started all three matches on the season for the Cavaliers. The defense has been bolstered by a swarming back line anchored by senior Emily Sonnett (Marietta, Ga.) who is also on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List with Doniak.

UCLA enters the contest coming off a win over Wisconsin last weekend. The Bruins have won back-to-back matches after falling in the season-opening match to Long Beach State.