Kentucky women’s soccer defeated UCLA on Sunday to extend its win streak to seven games to start the season. This ties the Cats’ best start since 2011.

“For us, it was a huge test right?” head coach Troy Fabiano said. “I mean, we talk about ourselves being a ‘Blue Blood’ in college basketball, UCLA is that in women’s soccer, so that’s a big result for us.”

The Cats have been led by graduate students Makala Woods and Maddie Kemp. Woods leads the team in goals scored with four on the season while Kemp has added two more of her own along with an assist.

Another grad student that has made an impact is Catherine DeRosa. DeRosa, who transferred from Maryland this past offseason, knocked in a goal in the second half against UCLA to seal the game for the Cats.

The Cats have also had several freshmen who have played a major role in their hot start to the season.

Out of the nine players who have scored at least one goal for Kentucky this year, five of them have been freshmen. Notably, forward Alexis Tylenda is tied for second on the team in goals with two and is fifth in shots with 11. 

Forward Anna Sikorski has also had a big impact with one goal, one assist and 14 total shots.

Kentucky has also been dominant on the defensive side of the ball. 

Over the seven matches that make up the active win streak, the Cats have only allowed two goals. On a per-game basis, this ranks 10th in the nation. They have also only allowed 38 total shots with just 10 of those being on goal. 

“I think the biggest thing is they compete,” Fabiano said. “That’s from day one we want them to compete.”

With so much success on the year, the Cats will try to continue their undefeated start to the season this Friday as they host Kent State at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. ET.