Riverside, Calif.—It had been a while since senior midfielder Kyra Taylor scored a goal. However, Friday night against CSU Bakersfield, you never would have known.

Marking her first goal since 2016, Taylor struck a ball 15 yards out in the 31st minute to help the Highlanders to a 1-0 win with an assist by Maddie Feist. It marked the third goal of her collegiate career.

Taylor mentioned to some teammates and coaches that she had a dream Thursday night that she was going to score a goal in the game.

"I don't score goals very often, so I was super excited," Taylor said. "They keep telling us as midfielders to get in the box. Every time now I'm sprinting to get in the box. I looked up this time and took the shot."

The team is now 3-0 to begin non-conference play and as it gets deeper into the season, the coaches are reiterating the importance of maintaining consistency.

"We started this in January and this group decided that they wanted to be different," head coach Nat Gonzalez said. We have eight Cs that we go by and one of them is consistency. In previous seasons that hasn't always been the case. We know that every week's result doesn't guarantee the next week's result."

With Bakersfield sitting back for much of the first half, UCR's time of possession was noticeable. Quinley Quezada had two back-to-back shots on goal right before the end of the first half. She had another shot on goal in the second half. Gonzalez liked seeing that pressure on the defense.

"We haven't been able to go on a run a lot," Taylor said. "To put these string of games together has been really good for us. The theme will continue to be consistency."

The team's next match will be Aug. 31 vs. Fresno State. Click here for tickets.

For more information on the team, visit gohighlanders.com and follow on instagram (ucr_wsoccer) and facebook (facebook.com/UCRWSOC/).