Women’s soccer: #2 UVA opens with 8-0 win over UNC-Wilmington

Junior Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.) turned in a hat trick, while senior Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) scored the first goal of the season and tallied three assists as No. 2 Virginia (1-0-0) defeated UNC-Wilmington (0-2-0) by a score of 8-0 on Sunday at Klöckner Stadium.

Junior Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax, Va.) picked up the win in her second career start. She combined with junior Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) in the shutout.

“We’re happy we got the result.,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “We did some good things on both sides of the ball. It’s always good to get the victory in your home opener, but certainly there are things we can to continue to work on. We have a lot of new faces and that showed at times.”

The Cavaliers wasted no time finding the net , scoring in the second minute of play. Megan Reid (Orinda, Calif.) took the ball on a tap back following a throw in and dribbled into the box, sending the ball to the middle of the box for a waiting Doniak who drilled it past the keeper to put Virginia on the board.

The lead grew in the 26th minute when Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) took a direct kick on the near side and sent the ball into the box. Cox sent a header into the net and gave the Cavaliers the 2-0 lead.

Virginia took it out to a 3-0 lead in the 29th minute when Doniak took the ball to the end line and passed it back into the box to a waiting Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.). Latsko buried the ball in the net to record her first collegiate goal.

A fourth goal came in the 36th minute when Doniak took a long pass down the near side of the field and dribbled past a defender into the box. The senior forward tapped the ball over to Shaffer who scored to give Virginia the 4-0 lead on the Seahawks.

Virginia opened the second half just like the first, finding the net early as Doniak connected with Morgan Reuther (Chantily, Va.) in the 52nd minute. Doniak dribbled down the middle of the field before splitting defenders with the tap ahead to Reuther who put the ball in the net for the 5-0 Cavalier lead.

The Cavaliers found the net again in the 56th minute when Brittany Ratcliffe (Williamstown, N.J.) sent a cross in to Cox. Cox headed the ball past the keeper to complete the play and Virginia led 6-0.

Cox again came through for the Cavaliers in the 67th minute., tallying the first hat trick of the season for Virginia. Reuther dribbled past a defender and fired off a shot that was deflected to the feet of Cox in the box. Cox then put the ball in the net to give Virginia the 7-0 lead on the Seahawks.

Emily Sonnett (Marietta, Ga.) gave the home team an 8-0 lead, converting a penalty kick in the 79th minute after a foul when a Virginia player got loose in the box and was taken down from behind by a Seahawk player.

Virginia will return to action on Friday, Aug. 28, when the Cavaliers host the Virginia Nike Soccer Classic. Virginia will face Cal Poly at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.