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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Facing a 1-0 deficit at halftime and needing a win to get into the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament, the 22nd-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team left no doubt in punching their ticket as they flew past Marymount University with five unanswered goals in the second half. The Captains (13-3-4, 4-2-3) captured the #5 seed in the CAC Tournament and will travel to #4 seed Mary Washington on Saturday, November 1 for first round action. 

Coming into the night's contest, the nationally-ranked Captains knew they would need a win to get into the postseason tournament. York College (Pa.) had applied the pressure with a 3-0 win at St. Mary's (Md.), temporarily passing CNU in the league standings. Then, less than 14 minutes into the match, Marymount increased the mounting pressure with a corner kick goal off the foot of Tristan Munoz. The unassisted tally was his second of the season and put the home team into a 1-0 hole. 

Despite outshooting the Saints (3-15-0, 1-8-0) by a 16-6 margin in the first half, only Munoz managed to find the back of the net. After 45 minutes of action, CNU trailed 1-0 with six shots on-goal. Marymount keeper Logan Cropper made a pair of stunning saves in the first half and finished the opening stanza with six stops. 

Prior to the game, six Captains were honored in a special Senior Night ceremony, including a pair that would waste little time tying things up in the second half. Bursting out of the halftime intermission, senior Jalon Brown made a run up the right side before slipping a perfect pass to the left side for fellow senior Alex Makumbi. The outside midfielder was one-on-one with Cropper and he dumped a low shot under the sliding save attempt for the equalizer in the right side of the goal. The game-tying score came just 1:24 into the second half and was Makumbi's third goal of the season

The energy level burst at the seams and the flood gates opened for the potent CNU offense, who took control of the match from that point forward. Just two minutes later, Brown got loose in the box and unleashed a screamer toward the goal that Cropper got his fingertips on for a sprawling save to his left. Seniors Stephen Landry and Tommy O'Neal each had narrow misses in the following eight-minute burst, and junior Ryan Balfour had a shot saved off the goal line by a defender in the 61st minute. 

As the clocked ticked past the 63rd minute, the Captains came through with the eventual game-winning goal on a corner kick. On the play before, junior Sean Christein knifed through the Marymount midfield, escaping the grasp of two players with a pair of nifty moves before slipping a pass to rookie Andrew Gogolin on the left side. The freshman hammered a shot off the crossbar, just inches from the upper ninety, and Marymount was forced to clear the ball out over the goal line. On the ensuing corner kick, Christein put away a near post header off a perfect cross from Brown, picking up his second assist in as many goals. 

Sophomore midfielder Harry Nodwell got in on the action in the 68th minute on a set piece from about 20 yards out on the right side. Nodwell had played well all night, setting up several runs into the box, but on this free kick, he took the shot himself. He drilled a hard shot that bent around the wall and into the right side of the goal for his fourth score of the season. 

With the game now well in hand, the Captains offense continued to surge. Brown capped off a memorable Senior Night with a goal of his own in the 79th minute on one of the prettiest of his 48 career goals. Junior forward Ryan Balfour got by his defender in the box on the left side and sent a low cross into the box for Brown, whose diving header was true for his 16th goal of the season. The senior forward added to his career record for points with the four-point game, giving him 125 total, while also adding to his best single season goal scoring total. His 38 points lead the CAC and are the second best in his career, and he has now registered three of the top six best offensive seasons in program history. 

Even with the success of Brown, though, Makumbi made his play for man of the match when he assisted on the fifth and final goal of the game in the 87th minute of action. With just over three minutes remaining, the Kampala, Uganda native beat a pair of defenders in the box and powered a shot toward Cropper. The ball was blocked, but bounced toward the back post where sophomore Jimmy Grace, like Brown, got a diving header on frame for the score. Makumbi's best game of the season included a goal and an assist in nearly 45 minutes of action. 

In the game, CNU held a dominant 40-7 advantage in total shots, including putting half of them on-goal against Marymount. With 20 shots on-goal, Cropper stopped 13 and a defender saved a pair, with five goals allowed. Playing on a crisp October evening, the Captains red-hot offense got back on track with their first multiple-goal scoring effort in three games. The Captains have now scored 57 goals this season, averaging 2.85 per game. 

Heading into the CAC Tournament, the CNU squad will head out on the road in the first round, traveling to Fredericksburg, Va. to take on the University of Mary Washington (8-7-3, 5-3-1) this Saturday. The winner of the CAC First Round matchup will then travel to top-seeded Salisbury University on Wednesday for the semifinal round.