VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Displaying a well-balanced attack, four different Captains found the back of the cage as the Christopher Newport field hockey team topped Virginia Wesleyan, 4-0, during a non-conference battle on Tuesday evening at Marlins Field.

During the contest, Carol Thompson and Calli Ioannou both registered a goal and an assist, while Madison Doss and Rachael Allshouse added first-half strikes to balance out the attack. Meanwhile, Bailey Lien earned the victory after anchoring a stellar defensive effort with three stops, while Sarah Miller chipped in with a defensive save on the way to the team's fourth shutout of the year.

With the victory, Christopher Newport improves to 7-2 on the season. The setback drops Virginia Wesleyan to 2-5.

Kicking things off quickly, the Captains jumped on the Marlins early and drove home a pair of goals in the first eight minutes of action. Doss opened the scoring with a bullet in the fourth minute before the squad capitalized on its second corner of the contest to extend the lead to two.

On the corner, Brittan Muir took the ball at the top of the zone, turned to her left, and sent a roller over to Miller, who unleashed a dart from just inside the arc. Although the Marlins were able to break up the initial shot, Allshouse was there to clean up. Scurrying across the zone, she dove towards the near post while punching the rebound past the goalie for a fast 2-0 edge.

Staring at an early deficit, Virginia Wesleyan attempted to retaliate while controlling possession during a sustained run in the middle of the period. Despite the rally, the CNU defense was up to the challenge. Muir cut off a streak on the near side, Alexa Weaver ended a pair of threats near the top of the zone, and Bailey Miller flipped the field twice after jumping into the passing lane and disturbing two VWC feeds.

Later, after the Captains came away empty-handed following five straight corner attempts, the defense stood tall again. Hanging on to the two-goal advantage, Sarah Miller won a foot race to the far corner to break up a deep run with 11 minutes left in the period. Shortly thereafter, Christopher Newport clamped down on a corner attempt by the Marlins before Weaver picked off a roller on a centering feed. Still holding strong, Ioannou showed off tremendous stick skills to close out another streak. The freshman intercepted a pass, juggled the ball for a moment, and eventually corralled the spinner before sending a feed to Doss, who cleared the zone and helped send the game into halftime.

Following the break, the Captains quickly extended their lead in the 40th minute. On the play, Thompson took control of the ball and burned towards the end line. With nowhere else to run, she pulled up and chipped the ball back into the circle where Ioannou swatted it out of the air for a highlight-reel goal.

Now facing a 3-0 deficit, the Marlins tested the CNU defense again with another long rally, but Lien put on a show. First, the senior goalie kicked away a deep roller, and after the hosts managed to punch a rebound towards the cage, she booted the ball again to clean up the play. Later, with pressure mounting, Lien remained vigilant. Taking heat from Virginia Wesleyan, she stoned two straight shots during a rapid-fire assault to keep the shutout intact.

After the defensive stand, Christopher Newport took possession and began to work on the clock. First, Weaver looped a rainbow over the defense to Abby Cryts, who took the ball into the zone. Later, Thompson made a pair of deep runs and Mackenzie Neylon disrupted a clear attempt to keep the ball on Virginia Wesleyan's half.

With another opportunity to strike, Thompson pieced together an incredible play in the 58th minute to cap off the scoring. After taking control, the junior used a nice touch pass to scoot around one defender before cutting back around another. Although the two players managed to regain their footing and take away a clear path to the cage, Thompson simply rolled towards the end line and unleashed a perfectly-placed rope that split the defense and found its way to the back of the cage for a four-goal advantage.

Holding a comfortable lead, CNU eased into the victory. During the final 13 minutes, the Captains limited the Marlins to just a single, off-target shot as the defense blanketed the field and locked up the 4-0 triumph.

Overall, the Captains held an 18-4 edge in shots and a 15-1 lead in penalty corners. Along with Lien's three saves for CNU, Skye Swain made eight stops for the Marlins.

Christopher Newport will return to action on October 2 for a 1 p.m. bout at Washington & Lee.

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