NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team is back in action on Wednesday evening, hosting North Carolina Wesleyan (1-1-0) in non-conference action. The Captains will look to improve on a 2-0 start at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, taking on their former conference foes at Captains Field.
CNU opened up their season this weekend with a pair of convincing wins over Greensboro College, 7-2, and Allegheny College, 2-0. The Captains paired an impressive offensive output with strong team defense to cruise to a pair of non-conference victories. The Battling Bishops also played two games on the opening weekend, falling to Lynchburg College, 2-0, before taking down host Roanoke College, 1-0, for a weekend split.
The all-time series favors the Captains slightly, by a mark of 22-18-8, with CNU winning seven straight matchups dating back to the 2010 regular season. In one of the longest standing rivalries in program history, the Captains have played the Bishops at least once in every season of program history, dating back to 1974.
Leading the way so far this season has been senior defender
Sammy Blosser, who collected Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors earlier Tuesday afternoon. Blosser has five points, scoring one goal and adding three assists, to highlight an offense that has already spread the wealth in a remarkable fashion. With nine goals scored on the season, nine different players have registered tallies. Pairing their goals with assists have been Blosser,
Patrick Burns,
Jimmy Grace,
Stephen Durbin, and
Andrew Gogolin.
On the defensive side of the ball, Blosser has been joined on the back line by fellow seniors
Harry Nodwell and
Zach Douglass, while sophomore
Bobby Seifert rounds out the starting four. In goal, sophomore
Zach Pedini has earned both starts, posting a 0.58 goals against average in over 150 minutes of play, while recording one shutout.
North Carolina Wesleyan will be playing their third game away from home to start the season after facing a pair of ODAC teams in Roanoke over the weekend. The Bishops were shut out in game one as Lynchburg put away early goals in both halves to capture a win over N.C. Wesleyan, despite outshooting the Hornets 13-5. Then, in a 1-0 win over the host Maroons, an unassisted goal by Tyler Jones in the first four minutes would be the difference, as Alex Magner made four saves to secure the shutout.
Jones is a freshman from Rocky Mount, N.C. and has started both games of his young career, while Magner, a junior keeper, made five career starts prior to this season with a 2.20 goals against average. He has lowered his career number to 1.84 after his first career shutout over Roanoke.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for Wednesday's matchup, with links found at CNUsports.com/live.
