NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Following just their second regular season loss in the last three seasons, the Christopher Newport women's soccer team held onto a spot in the top ten nationally, ranked No. 8 by the United Soccer Coaches, and will look to bounce back on Wednesday night at home. The Captains (11-1-2, 4-1-0) will host St. Mary's College of Maryland at 7:00 pm in Capital Athletic Conference action.
For fans who will not be at Captains Park in person, live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com.
The mid-week matchup will be the second against the Seahawks this season as the Captains picked up a 3-1 win over St. Mary's on the road last week. It was the 10th win in the all-time series for Christopher Newport who improved to 10-2-0 against St. Mary's with seven straight wins.
The Captains are coming off their first loss in conference play since 2015 after suffering a 5-2 setback at Salisbury on Saturday afternoon. St. Mary's earned it's first conference win of the year after facing Christopher Newport with a 1-0 victory at home against Southern Virginia. That win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the visiting Seahawks.
Despite the setback, the Christopher Newport offense still put two goals on the board and now have a five-game streak with multiple goals scored. The Captains have not been shut out this season and feature the nation's 16th ranked scoring offense with 3.64 goals per game. The newcomers to the Captains offense have helped provide depth all season. Sophomore transfer
Emily Talotta is among the nation's leaders in assists with 10 and ranks third on the team in scoring with 16 points (3g, 10a). Freshmen
Sarah Rhiel,
Jessica Zimmermann, and
Molly Beegle have combined for 21 points in their first year with 8 goals and 5 assists.
The veteran core has continued to be terrific as well with all-time leading scorer
Riley Cook leading the charge. The league's leading scorer has 36 points on 17 goals and 2 assists. Junior
Madison Cochran has added 17 points on 7 goals and 3 helpers while sophomore
Abby Harrigan has chipped in 10 points on 3 goals and 4 assists.
St. Mary's (Md.) features a young offense led by rookie Kaitlyn Steigner with three goals including one gamewinner. Seven of the nine goals scored by the Seahawks this year have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.
Christopher Newport will travel to Mary Washington after Wednesday's game to play the Eagles on Saturday, October 19 at Noon.
