FROSTBURG, Md. -- Josie Morgan registered her second multi-goal outing of the season, and the Captains smothered the Bobcats with a devastating defensive effort as the Christopher Newport field hockey team punched its ticket to the Capital Athletic Conference playoffs with a 3-0 victory over Frostburg State on Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.
 
Shining on both sides of the ball, CNU put together a well-rounded effort to lock up the victory. Morgan led the way on the offensive end after opening the scoring in the first half before adding the final punctuation mark late in the second stanza. Rachel Cooke also scored for the third time in her last four outings, while the Captains suffocated the Bobcat attack and limited the opposition to just a single, off-target shot.
 
With the victory, Christopher Newport moves to 13-4 on the season, including 3-2 in league action. Frostburg State falls to 5-12 with an 0-5 mark in conference play.
 
Early on, CNU set the tone with an unrelenting effort across the field. Defensively, the squad thwarted several scoring opportunities to silence Frostburg State. Madison Doss hustled back to help break up a two-on-one surge before the hosts earned a corner. Refusing to give an inch, Alexa Weaver threw caution to the wind and ran right at an FSU attacker before punching the ball away.
 
Later, Weaver continued her assault on the Frostburg State attack by breaking up a run along the far sideline, while Brittan Muir stole the ball back on the near side to help flip the field in the eighth minute.
 
Meanwhile, on the other side, Rachael Allshouse kept pestering the FSU defense. Early on, the sophomore standout picked off a pass and fired a shot off the foot of a defender to earn a corner. Minutes later, she connected with Carol Thompson, who burned a path towards the cage, but the Frostburg State goalie came out to meet her before any damage could be done.
 
Finally, after the defenses escaped unscathed early on, Christopher Newport finally found some daylight. In the 25th minute, Bailey Lien took possession inside the circle. Despite facing pressure from a Bobcat, she uncorked a gorgeous punt that sailed over the defense and dropped in front of Allshouse. After taking control, the sophomore cruised up the sideline and into the offensive zone.
 
Sprinting towards the baseline, the speedster eventually saved the roller from going out-of-bounds before chipping it into the circle. Fittingly, after Lien's looping punt kicked off the surge, Morgan capped off the play with an aerial attack of her own. As Allshouse's feed dropped from the sky, the junior swatted it out of the air and into the cage for the game's first goal.
 
Looking for more, the Captains continued to attack. Weaver collected a pass in-stride, scurried through two defenders, and connected with Abby Cryts inside the circle, but the ensuing shot was kicked away. Later, Allshouse, Thompson, and Calli Ioannou all drilled bullets towards the cage, but the Bobcats held up against the ambush to keep their deficit at one entering halftime.
 
Following the break, Christopher Newport continued to frustrate the hosts while refusing to let the ball slip past midfield. Setting up shop at the edge of the offensive zone, Ioannou badgered a midfielder and eventually forced a turnover. Later, Cooke and Mackenzie Neylon swiped the ball back as the Captains built an impenetrable wall that the hosts could not crack.
 
With extended possession, Christopher Newport continued to poke at the Frostburg State defense with a string of penalty corners. During a sustained 10-minute run, Sarah Miller clubbed three shots and made a tremendous play to chase down a ball along the end line and prevent it from rolling out-of-bounds before earning another corner. Later, Riley Keeter harassed a pair of defenders on the near side, who were attempting to end the surge. Her pressure eventually forced an errant pass, which Cooke picked off to continue the streak.
 
As the shots and corners mounted, Frostburg State did a commendable job handling the pressure, but the Bobcats struggled to retaliate. In the 60th minute, the hosts finally managed to slip the ball across midfield again, but Miller poked it away from behind before retaking possession. Allshouse and Thompson also disrupted an FSU response before the Captains fired back and extended their lead.
 
With less than 10 minutes left in regulation, Ioannou blasted a shot off a corner attempt that nearly spun through the Bobcats, but a defender managed to brush the ball away just before it crossed the goal line. Moments later, off another corner, Ioannou made a heads-up play. As the defense crashed down on her expecting another rocket, she simply shuffled a roller over to Cooke, who blistered one into the far corner of the cage to nail down a 2-0 lead.
 
Needing to respond, Frostburg State picked up the attack but ran straight into a wall disguised as the CNU defense. After her offensive work, Cooke stoned a pass just outside the circle to end FSU's initial threat. Later, Muir put pressure on another run and stood up against a streaking attacker, which eventually forced a long-range shot to whistle wide.
 
With time becoming a friend, CNU added one final strike in the waning moments to ice the victory. On the play, a long pass squirted loose across midfield. Showing off her speed, Morgan blew down the field to catch up to the roller as it entered the FSU zone. Still facing a pair of deep defenders, she took care of business all by herself. Cruising towards the cage, she muscled through both Bobcats and banged home a point-blank dart to cap off the 3-0 triumph.
 
Overall, Christopher Newport held a 29-1 edge in shots and a 17-1 lead in penalty corners during the game. Jacqueline Gover came through with 14 saves for the Bobcats, while Lien had a spotless ledger to earn the victory.
 
Although Lien had a relatively quiet day between the pipes, the senior still made history on Sunday. With her work on the field, she surpassed former teammate Shelby Judkins as the program's all-time leader in minutes played. Lien has now seen 4,391 minutes of action as a Captain, breaking Judkins' old mark of 4,324.
 
Christopher Newport will return to action on Wednesday when the Captains host Mary Washington in the regular season finale at 6 p.m. Prior to the game, CNU will hold its annual Senior Day celebration.
 
---CNU---