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MIDDLETOWN, Pa. -- With a 3-1 victory at second-seeded Penn State Harrisburg (13-5-1), the fifth-seeded Christopher Newport men's soccer team capped an improbable run through the 2014 Capital Athletic Conference Tournament and were crowned champions Saturday afternoon. The Captains (16-3-4) won their third straight road playoff game en route to the title, and became the lowest seed in league history to win a men's soccer championship. 

After falling to the Lions in a late regular season game on the same field, 3-1, the Captains reversed the scoreboard when it counted, posting a 3-1 victory in the CAC Championship. With the win, Christopher Newport earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, and will find out the site and opponent of its first round game at 1:30 pm on Monday in the NCAA.com Selection Show.

The game began with the home team playing the aggressor, with a trio of shots high of the goal, including a rip from Victor Weaver that played off the crossbar. The first goal of the match, though, would come off the foot of CNU junior Ryan Balfour in the 26th minute. 

Rookie midfielder Andrew Gogolin found some space on the outside and played in a hard cross that got through the hands of Harrisburg goalkeeper Brandon Hoover. Crashing to the goalmouth, Balfour finished the shot to get CNU on the board first, and shift momentum in favor of the road team. 

The Captains powerful offense, as it has all year, kicked into gear and started firing at Hoover. It wouldn't take long for CNU to light up the scoreboard again, as senior defender Stephen Landry converted just six minutes later. Sophomore midfielder Harry Nodwell served a pass into the box where Gogolin flicked a pass into a host of players. After the ball bounced around, Landry dove in with a header on-frame for his second goal of the year. The tally would hold up as the game-winning strike, the first of his career. 

After the Lions kicked off the game with a 3-1 advantage in the first four shots, CNU closed out the half outshooting the home team 5-2, including the two goals scored. 

The home team would not go away quietly, however, as Penn State Harrisburg cut the lead in half early into the second stanza. In the 60th minute, Michael Jones set up a scoring strike from Jon Willingham, making the score 2-1 with just over 30 minutes remaining. With plenty of time to even things up, the CNU offense desperately looked for an insurance goal to stave off the comeback. Hoover turned away shots from Jimmy Grace and Alec Faulkner before the insurance tally finally came in beautiful fashion. 

In the 83rd minute of action, senior forward Jalon Brown, the Captains' all-time leading scorer, beat his defender in the corner of the 18-yard box and rocketed a shot just under the crossbar inside the near post for the back-breaking, and championship-sealing, score. The goal not only wrapped up the team win for the Captains, but was the 50th career goal for Brown as he drew one goal shy of tying the program record for career scores. 

The defense in front of goalkeeper Sam Lesko would hold up over the final six minutes and CNU captured its first CAC Title and fourth conference championship in program history. CNU will be making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance, and sixth in the last seven years.