NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team suffered it's sixth one-goal loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to the York College of Pennsylvania Spartans (9-3-2, 2-0-2) after a second-half goal stood up as the only scoring. The Captains (6-6-0, 2-2-0) fell, 1-0, despite outshooting the visiting team by a final count of 15-5.
The bad luck continues to plague the Captains this season, who have not lost a game by more than a single tally all season long. The setback is the second 1-0 loss in conference play for CNU, who falls into fifth place in the league standings with just three games left to decide postseason seeding. With the win, York (Pa.) took over the top spot with 8 points in the CAC standings.
The first half action was limited with both teams combining for just three shots on-goal. The Captains had an early attempt denied after a beautiful combination of passes found
Stephen Durbin ahead of the defense in the box. Before he was able to get a shot off, however, a defender made a play on Durbin to deny the chance.
Later in the half, senior
Zachary Ballard set up the Captains for one of the best chances in the game when he got a pass into the corner and behind the defense. He rolled a hard pass on the ground through the middle of the box, but the Captains were unable to connect on the finishing pass. Late in the half,
Justin Wilson and
Jordan Boone both tested York's keeper, Billy Bridegum, but the Spartan netminder stopped both shots on-goal.
The game's lone tally came in the 56th minute off the foot of Nathan Bilbie. The Captains defense was caught in the corner trying to clear when the ball landed on the right foot of Bilbie. He took one dribble and smashed a hard wobbling shot from 35 yards into the top of the Captains' goal. Bilbie tested CNU goalkeeper
Zach Pedini again just minutes later, but this time the senior made the save.
Facing a deficit, the Captains offense continued to build chances throughout the second half, but the York defense was up to the task. Durbin cracked a hard shot from the top of the box, stoned by Bridegum, and
Davis Pillow connected on a header off a long entry pass from
Bobby Seifert, but again the shot was turned away.
CNU outshot the Spartans, 15-4, including a 5-3 advantage in shots on-goal. CNU also earned six corner kicks while York failed to earn a single try from the corner flag against the vaunted CNU defense. Pedini picked up two saves in the loss and Bridegum had five.
The Captains will look to bounce back on Wednesday, October 17 as the team travels to Salisbury University (9-2-2, 2-1-1) for CAC action. Kickoff against the Sea Gulls is slated for 4:00 pm.
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