Women’s soccer: No. 2 Virginia hosts Louisville Thursday afternoon

After three weeks on the road, the No. 2 Virginia women’s soccer team hosts Louisville at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 22) in a match broadcast by the ACC Regional Sports Network.

The Cavaliers (11-1-1, 5-1-0 ACC) are coming off three straight wins on the road that included a shutout at No. 5 Clemson two weeks ago and most recently a 4-2 win at Boston College this past weekend. Louisville (7-6-2, 3-3-1 ACC) is coming off a three-match home stand that saw the Cardinals defeat then top-ranked North Carolina, play Duke to a draw and fall to No. 1 Florida State.

Juniors Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) and Morgan Reuther (Chantilly, Va.) pace the Virginia offense with seven goals each this season. Shaffer has also tallied five assists, the second most on the team, to post a team-leading 19 points. Reuther has added two assists for 16 points on the year.

Senior Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) leads the squad with seven assists and tallied a goal and an assist in the last outing at Boston College. With the performance, Doniak tied the school record for career points with 138 to date.

The Cavaliers’ success has been bolstered by a defensive back line that has combined with junior goalkeepers Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax, Va.) and Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) to post eight shutout victories and allow only eight goals on the year.

Louisville enters the match having scored 15 goals on the season and allowed a matching 15 goals. Four different players have scored two goals each for the Cardinals to lead the offense, while Rachel Avant and Hannah Konermann are tied with three assists each.

Paige Brown and Taylor Bucklin have split time in goal this season as the Cardinals have allowed an average of a goal per game.

Single-game tickets are $9 for reserved seats if available, $7 for adults and $5 for youth, seniors and faculty/staff. Group ticket orders of 20 or more tickets are $4. Fans who can’t make it to Klöckner for the game can catch the action on the ACC Regional Sports Network (Comcast Mid-Atlantic in Charlottesville).

The Cavaliers will close out the home portion of the regular season on Sunday, hosting No. 1 Florida State in a rematch of last season’s national championship game.