FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Behind a potent offensive attack and a suffocating defensive effort, the Christopher Newport field hockey team earned a berth in the Capital Athletic Conference championship game with an impressive 3-0 victory over No. 14 Mary Washington during the CAC semifinals on Wednesday afternoon at the UMW Turf Field.
During the contest,
Madison Doss and
Alexa Hendrickson both drove home first-half goals, while
Miranda Hept added the final nail in the second half to help seal the victory. On the defensive end,
Bailey Lien pieced together a tremendous effort with nine saves to blank the Eagle attack.
With the victory, CNU heads back to the CAC championship game for the second straight year. The Captains, who now stand at 12-6 on the season, will battle the survivor of this evening's Salisbury - York clash. Game time and location will be determined after the opponent is known.
Early in the first half on Wednesday, the two teams traded runs during a back-and-forth affair. Mary Washington, who posted a 2-1 overtime victory against CNU last week, looked to open the scoring quickly. The hosts punched four of the game's first five shots, including a pair of on-target attempts. Fortunately, Lien stoned the first bullet before
Allie Hackbarth swooped in and helped clean up another tough shot with a nice defensive save to keep the Eagles off the board.
After surviving UMW's surge, Christopher Newport retaliated late in the first half. In the 29th minute,
Lisa Murphy took control near the top of the arc and sent a bouncer into the zone. With the Eagles on their heels, Doss, Hept, and
Carol Thompson crashed down and began pummeling the Mary Washington defense near the cage. Although two initial shots were stopped, Doss grabbed control of the rebound. With just a sliver of daylight, she spun a dart into the far corner to put CNU on the board.
After scoring first last Wednesday as well, the Captains refused to let Mary Washington come back again. First, Lien built a wall in front of the cage with three huge saves, including a pair of stops on back-to-back rockets. Shortly thereafter, her offense stepped up and added a little breathing room just before halftime.
In the 34th minute of action,
Moira Wright took control at the top of the arc following a penalty corner. With some space, Wright punched the ball towards the cage before
Alexa Weaver took over. The freshman's first attempt was stoned by the goalie, but she remained calm and grabbed her own rebound. After finding some room, she spun and fired the ball again. This time, her shot was batted back by a defender in front of the cage, but Hendrickson was there to clean up. Entrenched along the near post, she corralled the ricochet and quickly sent it back into the cage for a 2-0 lead entering halftime.
Staring at a two-goal deficit, Mary Washington tried to chip away at CNU's lead with a sustained run early in the second half. Right out of the gate, the Eagles appeared to have numbers and were breaking free for a moment, but
Lauren Reinaman clamped down on the near sideline to disrupt the play. Later, the defense dug in as Hendrickson,
Mackenzie Neylon, and
Sarah Miller helped clean up before the Eagles could put a shot on goal.
Following a nice stand by her defense, Lien made a beautiful save to keep the shutout intact in the 47th minute. After spectacular work by CNU's midfield unit to keep the Eagles at bay, Mary Washington wiggled free again and pumped another shot from the far side of the field, but Lien came through with a sensational kick save before Hept cleared the zone.
Soon after, Mary Washington stormed back into Christopher Newport's end of the field looking to break through once again. Although the Eagles briefly had a three-on-two advantage, Hackbarth interrupted the play just enough to give the rest of the defense time to get back and settle in before the hosts whistled for a timeout.
Following the stoppage, Hackbarth continued to frustrate the opposing attack as the senior made a textbook tackle at the top of the arc to stymie another run. With the defense simply smothering the hosts, the CNU offense went back to work and tacked on one final tally to put the game out-of-reach.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the Captains settled into the UMW side of the field. After the Eagles attempted to clear the ball, Tunstall intercepted the roller and stormed towards the end line. Off-balance, the senior speedster blistered a dart off her back leg. Although the initial shot was disrupted by a defender,
Taylor Williams made a highlight-reel play.
The junior grabbed control of the roller as the defense closed in. With her back towards the arc, she made a quick touch and sent a picture-perfect, no-look feed towards the center of the zone. Without hesitation, Hept stormed in and made a diving stab to flick the ball past Mary Washington's keeper to close out the scoring.
Leading by three, Christopher Newport's defense took care of the rest. Lien made three more saves during the waning moments of the game. Later, after another sustained run by the Eagles, Weaver and
Kaila Bernard took control of the ball and broke free down the center of the field to help run precious seconds off the clock. Hackbarth also did solid work along the sideline to keep Mary Washington from mounting a last-ditch effort while sealing the shutout victory.
Overall, UMW held a 15-10 edge in shots and a 12-3 lead in penalty corners. On the defensive end, Lien led the way with nine saves while the Captains converted three of their nine on-target attempts to cap off the win.
---CNU---
