Riverside, Calif.—Amanda Roy couldn't stop smiling. As a defender, she doesn't usually make it onto the stat sheet.

However, that wasn't the case in Friday's match against San Jose State, when Roy scored in the 13th minute on a header that helped the UC Riverside Women's Soccer team to a 1-0 win. It came on a perfect corner kick from Darielle O'Brien.

"It's so exciting," Roy said. "Any time I get the chance to get up there and attack, I just want to take advantage of it."

Roy, who scored the third goal of her UCR career, said the team had been working on a play like that all week in practice.

"Darielle hit the perfect ball and Amanda was in the exact place she needed to be," head coach Nat Gonzalez said. "As much as you draw it up, it was awesome."

The team is now 7-0-1, its best start since 2004. It also marked the seventh shutout of the season. Annie Bailey had a diving save with just 40 seconds left in Friday's game to secure the shutout and the victory.

"We've had seven shutouts now with three different goalies and she [Roy] has been a big reason why," Gonzalez said. "She's been the one constant. For her to get a goal on top of a shutout is really good for her and the team."

The goal is just another part of this magical start for the Highlanders, who continue to build off of every win and know that moving forward, it's all about performing.

"I just think our team chemistry and our team culture this year has been really strong," Roy said. "We've worked really hard to maintain that and keep picking each other up. Our goal is five percent better every game, and that's what we try to hold ourselves to."