Box Score in HTML Format

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Coming into Wednesday night's contest as the third-ranked scoring offense in the nation, the Christopher Newport men's soccer team lived up to that billing and then some against Southern Virginia University, downing the Knights, 11-0. The Captains improved to 8-2-0 overall with a 3-0-0 mark in conference play, while Southern Virginia falls to 3-4-0 and 0-3-0. 

For the second straight game, the flood gates opened against a CNU opponent, as Christopher Newport outscored the Knights, 7-0, in the first half and added four more goals in the second. The opening stanza has been particularly impressive for CNU this season, outscoring opponents 10:1 with a 30-3 running tally in the first half. 

Sophomore midfielder Samsu Sallah played a part in three goals to lead the way for the Captains. He scored a goal and set up two more to finish with 4 points, while a pair of Captains registered two-goal games. Senior leading scorer Jimmy Grace and senior reserve James Lee each tickled the twine twice to lead the dominating CNU offense. 

The Captains put the game out of reach in the early going, scoring four goals in the first 10:07. Grace started things off with his first game-winning goal of the year, Senior Andrew Gogolin set up the play with a nice through ball on the left side, where Grace would then hammer home the shot into the high corner of the netting. That goal came just under three minutes into the game, and CNU would tack on another in just over a minute later. 

With only 4:09 expired on the clock, CNU took a 2-0 lead on a beautiful bender off the foot of James Lee. Lee took a free kick from just outside the box on the right side and wrapped his shot around the wall and into the left side of the goal. Another three minutes oater, Grace notched his 10th goal of the season when Sallah played a long ball down the right side beyond the Southern Virginia defense. Grace raced to the ball and, facing the keeper one-on-one, smashed a hard shot into the middle of the goal. 

Gogolin got on the board himself in the 11th minute, capping the early run as CNU opened up a 4-0 lead. Defender Zach Douglass launched a pass to Gogolin down the right side near the box, where Gogolin collected and placed a perfectly directed shot by the Knights' goalkeeper. The first half scoring would continue in the 19th, 30th, and 35th minutes as, in order, Lee, Michael Wilson, and Teig Lesko each notched scoring tallies. First, Lee scored off a pass from Sallah; then, Noah Peizer and Teig Lesko hooked up for a combination play off a corner kick, off which Lesko delivered a soaring cross into the box. Michael Wilson then delivered his first goal of the year when he volleyed home the cross. Finally, Lesko's unassisted tally in the 35th minute would be all the scoring CNU got in the first. 

The Captains outshot the Knights, 29-3, in the first half, while lighting up the scoreboard seven times. With a drastically different lineup in the second half, the Captains showed no signs of slowing. Sallah got into the goal-scoring column just 1:23 into the second half when Daniel Zeitoun set up the sophomore midfielder. Zeitoun took a free kick and directed a cross to the back post, where it bounced into the box and then over the defense. Sallah recognized the chance and blistered a hard shot into the left side. 

Rookie Justin Wilson scored off a header into the right side of the goal, while Noah Peizer added a one-on-one score with the goalkeeper. Rounding out the scoring was rookie Joshua Niblo, who took advantage of an empty net by slipping in a long roller with just enough speed to get by the last defender. Peizer played Niblo on in the 73rd minute and with the keeper drawn out, he was able to convert on the 11th and final goal of the match. 

CNU finished with a 41-10 advantage in total shots, including an 18-3 edge in shots on-goal. 

The Captains will return to action this Saturday, October 7 as they play host to Frostburg State University in CAC action at 6:00 pm.