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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The fourth-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team opened up conference play with a big splash on Saturday, cruising to a 5-0 victory against Penn State Harrisburg (2-3-2, 0-1-0) at home. Five different players scored, and four more chipped in assists as the Captains (8-0-2, 1-0-0) ran their season opening unbeaten streak to 10. 

Facing a wet track due to off-and-on rain throughout the day on Saturday, the Captains offense wasn't slowed at all. CNU scored a season-high five goals on five assists and head coach Steve Shaw got 30 different players into the action as CNU sailed to a big shutout victory. 

The scoring got started early for the Captains, as the team's two leading scorers hooked up for what would prove to be the eventual gamewinner in the 10th minute of play. The ball came into junior Patrick Burns down the middle of the field and after a few dribbles, he slid a pass across the top of the box for senior Ryan Balfour. Balfour blistered a hard shot into the right corner of the goal for his team-leading third game-winning strike of the year. 

Senior Mark Brewington got into the action in the 30th minute when he set up Burns for the second goal. Just minutes after checking in, the ball found Brewington in the corner where he slipped past a defender and rushed a pass inside for Burns. With a defender on his back, Burns turned and fired a shot from just outside the six-yard box, in for the score. 

With the goal and assist, Burns now has 17 points through the first ten games, good for second in the CAC. His seven goals are tied for the league lead. 

With less than five minutes to go in the first half, CNU would tack on one more in the opening frame. A picture-perfect execution of a corner kick from Hunter Simons to Zachary Ballard gave the Captains a 3-0 lead heading into the break. Simons found Ballard on the near post, where he elevated and headed home the score, his third of the year. 

CNU outshot the Lions, 14-2, in the first half, including an extreme 8-1 advantage in shots on-goal. The Captains defense was suffocating all night, allowing just three total shots in the game. 

In the second half, CNU added two more goals. The first came in the 50th minute when Harry Nodwell's corner kick found the head of Sean Christein. The senior defender rose up against two defenders and directed a shot toward the center of the goal. A Penn State Harrisburg defender was there to make the stop, but the shot was too powerful and glanced off of his body into the goal.

Then, in the 78th minute, an unselfish play capped off the scoring for the Captains when sophomore Mamadou Barry wrestled the ball away from a defender and had a 2-on-1 with the goalkeeper. Rather than taking his own shot past the keeper, Barry slipped a short pass to Girma Baker for a wide open net and the score. 

Senior goalkeeper Nolan Mann started and played over 75 minutes in the game, combining with rookie Zach Pedini for the shutout. The defense, led by starters Christein, Bobby Seifert, Cameron Vaughn and Zach Douglass, was impenatrable. Late in the game, they were relieved from duty as fans were treated to the collegiate debut of Pedini and Andrew Maeso, along with the first appearance of the season for Jordan Clark and Zach Shaeffer. 

Overall, CNU held a 24-3 advantage in total shots, including a 13-1 edge in shots on-goal. 

The Captains will look to continue its strong play next weekend as they hit the road to play York College of Pennsylvania at 3:00 pm on Saturday, October 3.