FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- With a 7-1 win at Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon, the Christopher Newport women's soccer team captured the program's sixth straight regular season conference championship and will serve as the league's top seed in the postseason tournament. League leading scorer Riley Cook had a monster day, scoring three goals for the second time in four games, including the gamewinner, her seventh. 

CNU broke a first-place tie atop the league standings with the win, improving to 13-1-0 overall and 6-0-0 in league action. The Captains joined the Capital Athletic Conference in 2013 and have won the regular season title in each of their six seasons in the league. CNU clinches home field advantage throughout the conference tournament which will begin next Saturday, October 27. 

Cook once again led the way with her second career hat trick, becoming just the seventh player in program history with multiple three-goal efforts in her career. One of those three tallies was the eventual game-winner, which came in the 12th minute of action as her second goal of the game. Cook's seventh game-winning goal of the season ties the program record for a single season and moves her into a tie for third in career winners with 12. She ranked 7th in the nation coming into Saturday's contest in that category. 

With the six-point performance, Cook now leads the league with 38 points, which ranks third all-time in program history. The list of her individual accolades continues to grow, as she also has now scored in eight straight games, tied for the third longest roll in CNU lore. 

All eight goals in the game were scored in the first half, as CNU raced out to the big lead on the road. Carson Pokorny scored an unassisted goal after Cook notched the first two. Mary Washington got on the board with a Brooke Bauman goal in the 25th minute, but the Captains rolled four more unanswered scores before the first half ended. 

In the 32nd minute, the league's leader in assists, Maxine Borris, found Cook to cap her hat trick. Borris now has nine assists this season and is tied for the CAC lead with York's Caitlin Rankin. She also has set a new program standard for consecutive games with an assist with her fifth straight match setting up a goal. 

Cook's third goal kicked off a quick spurt as CNU scored four goals in less than ten minutes of action. Seniors Kayla Locklear and Gabby Gillis connected for the Captains' fifth goal, as Gillis eclipsed 30 points for her second straight season. Locklear added her second assist of the afternoon with a helper on the first of two goals scored by rookie Kristina Toms. Then, capping the scoring in the 42nd minute, Maddie Kelsey assisted on Toms' second goal. 

The CNU defense held Mary Washington to just 11 shots, with only six on-goal. Sophomore Haley Eiser and junior Maddy Belanger split the game with Eiser picking up the win and Belanger posting a shutout second half with a big save after halftime. 

The Captains, ranked as high as 13th nationally, will close out the regular season on Wednesday, October 24 at St. Mary's (Md.) at 3:30 pm. Following the action in Maryland, the Captains will return home to open play in the CAC Tournament on Saturday, October 27 with game time to be determined.