SALISBURY, Md. -- Giving the second-ranked Sea Gulls everything they could handle, the Christopher Newport field hockey team overcame an early deficit to force overtime, but Salisbury was able to survive as the Captains dropped a thrilling 2-1 decision during a Capital Athletic Conference battle on Wednesday evening at Sea Gull Stadium.
 
During the contest, Rachel Cooke forced overtime with a huge second-half goal, while Bailey Lien pieced together a 10-save masterpiece between the pipes. Unfortunately, the Sea Gulls had just a little more left and survived the struggle on the way to their eighth straight victory.
 
With the setback, Christopher Newport falls to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in league action. Salisbury now stands at 12-1 with a 4-0 ledger in the CAC.
 
After entering halftime staring at a one-goal deficit, the Captains looked reinvigorated early in the second stanza. Shortly after the break, Josie Morgan burned down the far sideline and slipped a roller to Calli Ioannou, who earned the squad's first corner. On the play, Cooke pumped a shot from the top of the circle that was stoned before Rachael Allshouse grabbed the rebound. Bullying her way through several defenders, the sophomore attempted to punch another shot, but the ball was momentarily batted away.
 
Moments later, Allshouse regained control and cranked a blast from the top of the circle that caught a defender, which earned another corner. Continuing to attack, Sarah Miller showed tremendous hustle to save a roller off a broken play as the senior chased down the ball and spun it off another Sea Gull inside the circle to continue the run of corners.
 
Although the Sea Gulls continued to handle the pressure, the Captains remained vigilant. After Salisbury attempted to clear the zone, Alexa Weaver picked off a pass to regain control in the 40th minute. Shortly thereafter, Ioannou torched a shot that led to the squad's fifth corner of the stanza.
 
With another solid look, Christopher Newport capitalized. Ioannou took possession at the top of the circle and battled her way through a pair of defenders. With little room to work, she eventually tipped the ball out to Cooke, who unleashed a screamer from the near side of the field that rattled around the back of the cage to knot the game at one.
 
Back on even ground, the Captains faced a relentless assault from the Salisbury attack. Stepping up on the defensive end, Lien made a great kick save off a bullet before booting the ball out of the air to prevent a deflection. Shortly thereafter, Madison Doss stood tall in the face of two attackers to end another threat before Weaver muscled up and won a physical battle along the near sideline to punch the ball across midfield, which gave the back line a brief break.
 
After Salisbury returned to the offensive zone, the Captains remained defiant on the defensive end. Lien showed off her great reaction time as she made a tremendous stop on a turnaround bullet from pointblank range. Moments later, Brittan Muir broke up a pass deep inside the circle before Weaver floated the ball to Bailey Miller, who snaked her way through several midfielders to give the defense another momentary breather.
 
After a Salisbury timeout gave both squads a much-needed rest, the two teams returned to the field for a frantic end to regulation. Following the break, Sarah Miller closed off a play along the end line before Salisbury earned a string of corners to keep the Captains on their heels.
 
Holding strong against the corner attack, the defense forced an errant shot on the first play before Cooke batted down a blast off the second attempt. Later, Weaver stepped up to stop the next two as she cleaned up a roller off the third corner before making a textbook tackle deep inside the circle to close out the fourth prior to a CNU timeout.
 
Following the stoppage, Salisbury made one last push, but Christopher Newport held strong again. In the final minute of regulation, the hosts earned two more corners, but Cooke blocked a shot off the first play before putting pressure on a Sea Gull on the second attempt, which threw SU off-kilter and closed out regulation.
 
In the bonus session, the Captains continued to fight. Cooke battled her way down the field to put early pressure on the Salisbury defense. Later, Muir picked off a pair of feeds along the near sideline, but the hosts never relented. Eventually, the Sea Gulls wiggled into the CNU circle and earned another penalty corner in the 75th minute, but Weaver was there once again to poke the ball away right in front of the cage to end the threat.
 
Unfortunately, Salisbury retained possession and continued to test the Captains. Although Christopher Newport continued to blanket the nation's third-ranked offensive attack, the Sea Gulls finally found a little daylight in the 77th minute. Annah Brittingham punched a ball into the circle, and Madison Angulas redirected it just enough to send it spiraling through the defense for the overtime clincher.
 
Despite the end result, the CNU defense did tremendous work silencing the high-powered Sea Gulls. Although Salisbury held an 18-3 edge in shots and a 15-5 advantage in corners, it took until the 77th minute before SU could close out the persistent Captains.
 
Similar to the second half, Christopher Newport stood toe-to-toe with Salisbury throughout the opening stanza. Early in the first half, the two teams tested each other with several deep runs. First, Cooke cut off a pair of SU surges before Weaver made two tackles on the far side of the field to keep the Sea Gulls quiet. Later, on the other side, Ioannou slipped the ball into the Salisbury circle and Weaver lofted a 20-yard teardrop over the defense to flip the field again, but the hosts stunted both runs.
 
After quieting the CNU attack, the Sea Gulls continued to test the Captains on the other side. In the middle of the first half, Muir made a tackle and showed off her stick skills by cutting through three Salisbury midfielders to push the ball out of the defensive zone. Shortly thereafter, the hosts earned their first corner, but Weaver burst out of the cage to deflect the shot and thwart the attempt.
 
Unfortunately, Salisbury eventually broke the scoreless deadlock in the 16th minute after earning the team's second corner. Although Lien made a great save on the initial shot, the ball deflected back out to the top of the circle where Brittingham capitalized on the rebound.
 
Looking to counterstrike, Weaver did a masterful job in the far corner to swallow up a Sea Gull attacker before poking the ball away. Later, Doss also intercepted a feed and cleared the zone before the Captains worked the ball down the field. With 15 minutes left in the opening period, Ioannou knocked the ball away from a midfielder before Carol Thompson chipped it into the circle. Although Abby Cryts managed to take control, she faced a wall of SU defenders, who eventually clamped down on the play.
 
After stopping CNU's attack, the Sea Gulls tried to extend their lead but ran up against an airtight defense. During a two-minute stretch, Lien made a pair of sensational saves, including a great stick stop after diving onto the turf. Moments later, she punched a bouncer out of the air before adding a kick save off a corner attempt.
 
With time winding down on the first half, the Captains remained vigilant and refused to let the Sea Gulls pad their lead. Muir cleaned up an on-target shot along the near post before batting down another dart in the waning moments of the stanza. Lien also contributed three more saves in the final minute, including a heads-up stop on a long-range missile and another kick save on a mid-range attempt, which closed out the half.
 
Unfortunately, after Cooke drove home the equalizer in the second period, Salisbury struck again in overtime to end the marathon affair.
 
Christopher Newport will return to action on Sunday when the squad travels to Frostburg State for an 11 a.m. showdown.
 
---CNU---