Virginia Women’s Soccer up to No. 1 in the rankings

The strong start for Virginia Athletics this fall continues as the Women’s Soccer team has taken over No. 1 in the latest United Coaches Top-25.

Virginia is 8-0 on the season, outscoring opponents 35-3. The Hoos have consistently progressed up the rankings, starting the season at No. 9 before improving to No. 6, No. 5, and No. 4 in the following weeks. Stanford losing to Pepperdine and North Carolina losing to Arkansas gave Virginia an opening, and the Cavaliers took advantage with an 8-1 win over William and Mary and a 2-1 win over No. 8 Penn State.

The win over the Nittany Lions was the third ranked win this season for Virginia as the Hoos have already taken down No. 12 West Virginia and No. 15 Georgetown.

Seven ACC teams are in the Top-25 this week with UNC dropping to No. 4, FSU coming in at No. 6, Duke at No. 8, Clemson at No. 10, Virginia Tech at No. 18, and Louisville joining the rankings at No. 20.

Diana Ordonez leads the team with nine goals, good for second in the country. Meghan McCool is close on her heels with seven goals, and Alex Spaanstra has two goals and a team-high seven assists. Virginia’s 4.38 goals scored per game is best in the nation, and goalkeeper Laurel Ivory has two goals against and five saves in seven games of action.

On the men’s side, the Cavaliers are up to No. 5. The Hoos have only played four games, but have knocked off then-No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 Duke in that span. Like the women, the men’s teams are strong in the ACC with No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 7 Clemson, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 15 Duke, No. 16 Notre Dame, and No. 17 Virginia Tech all ranked this week.

Irakoze Donasiyano and Nathaniel Crofts lead the Hoos with two goals apiece, and Darryl Dike has a goal and team-high three assists including this beauty:

The men’s squad squares off against Radford tonight (Tuesday) in Charlottesville, while the ladies play at Wake Forest on Friday.