The Virginia women's soccer team tallied its third consecutive win and third consecutive shutout as they dispatched UNC-Wilmington 2-0 Sunday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium.
After a scoreless first half, first year Makenzy Doniak was again a star of the show, notching the Cavaliers' first goal in the 56th minute. Junior Molly Menchel sent a cross from the left side squarely to the middle of the box and Doniak beat the Seahawks goalie to put the ball in the back of the net. It was Doniak's fifth goal of the season and she has now scored in all four games this season. She's the first Cavalier to ever score in all of the first four games of a season. Don't take anything away from Menchel either. Her cross was beautiful and gave Doniak a perfect opportunity.
Sophomore Danielle Colaprico got the insurance goal in the 67th minute. She intercepted a bad clearing pass from the Seahawk defense and put a shot from the top of the box into the upper-right corner of the net past the diving UNC-W goalkeeper.
The Cavaliers now travel to Texas for the Longhorn Invitational. They face the hosts on Friday at 8:30pm and then take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs on Sunday at noon. The Longhorns (2-2) have wins over Dayton and Toledo to go along with losses to Arkansas and North Carolina State. The Mustangs (1-1) have a win over Oral Roberts and a loss to San Diego State. Neither team is ranked (or receiving votes) in the NSCAA Coaches' poll, so it should be a good opportunity for the Cavaliers (3-1) to snag a couple of wins away from Klöckner.
On a related note, Virginia coach Steve Swanson and sophomore attack Morgan Brian are still over in Japan with the US U-20 team. They have a 1-0-1 record so far and face Germany (2-0-0) in the final match of the group phase tomorrow at 3am ET. The US team needs at least a draw in the match in order to advance to the knockout stage. If they do advance, they'll play their next match on Friday at either 3am ET or 6:30am ET.