BUENA VISTA, Va. -- Carly Wilson and
Meaghan Galvin combined for eight goals and four assists as the two standouts helped lead the Christopher Newport women's lacrosse team to a 20-3 victory over Southern Virginia during a Capital Athletic Conference contest on Wednesday afternoon at the SVU Fields.
During the game, Wilson matched her career-high with four goals and five points. Galvin also continued her outstanding sophomore campaign with four goals and three assists.
Catie Chess contributed her ninth hat-trick of the season as well, while
Kylie Chaplin dished out a game-high three assists.
On the defensive end,
Mariah Ginebra scooped up two ground balls, while Wilson added one and forced a turnover.
Savanah Cummings also contributed four saves during 50 minutes of work between the pipes. For that performance, she picked up her first career victory.
With the win, Christopher Newport improves to 9-6 on the season, including 5-2 in the CAC. The setback drops Southern Virginia to 0-14 overall and 0-7 in league action.
From the outset, the Captains jumped out to an early lead as Chaplin assisted on back-to-back goals by Wilson and
Erin Callahan. Shortly thereafter,
Lindsay Weaver added a solid punctuation mark to the early surge with a dart off a free-position attempt to push the lead to 3-0.
Although Southern Virginia was able to crack the scoreboard off an eight-meter attempt, CNU quickly shook off the setback. Looking to respond, Galvin won the ensuing draw before dishing to Chess, who snapped off her first goal of the game. Later, after the defense withstood a solid run by SVU, Chess returned to the offensive end and drove home another strike off a pass from
Jen Doering to grab a 5-1 advantage.
Once again, the hosts had a modest response and cut their deficit back down to three, but the Captains stepped up on the defensive end to quiet the Knight attack. First, Cummings came in and stoned a free-position attempt before
Caitlin King forced a turnover to close down an SVU clear attempt. Meanwhile, the offense continued to do its job as Galvin stung Southern Virginia with back-to-back goals, while King also showed off her scoring touch after driving home her first tally of the game.
Staring at an 8-2 deficit with six minutes left in the first half, Southern Virginia pieced together another answer with a man-up goal. However, the Captains were unfazed. Once again, the visitors answered immediately as Galvin collected her third goal of the half before Wilson and King both found openings in the final two minutes of the period to snatch an 11-3 edge entering halftime.
Following the break, Christopher Newport put the game away. Ending any thoughts of a comeback, Cummings brushed aside another free-position shot early in the second half before her offense found its groove. Testing the SVU defense from all over the field, Wilson, Galvin,
Halle Kennon and
Katie Hollern all collected goals during a huge six-minute run, which pushed the lead to 15-3.
Continuing their assault, Wilson and Kennon tacked on two more scores midway through the half to take a 15-goal advantage. With little left to prove, the visitors eased into the victory. Eventually, Chess capped off her hat-trick with nine minutes remaining before
Samantha Hotchkiss and
Meghan O'Reilly both blistered bullets to cap off the scoring and seal the 20-3 victory.
Overall, CNU held a 40-10 lead in shots and a 9-2 edge in ground balls. The Captains also controlled 16 of the game's 25 draws, including five by Galvin and four by Chaplin.
Kedron Walsh contributed two and added a ground ball as well.
Christopher Newport will wrap up the regular season on Saturday when the Captains head to York for a noon battle.
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