NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Behind another strong defensive effort, which helped quiet one of the nation's leading offensive attacks, the 14th-ranked Christopher Newport men's lacrosse team opened up Capital Athletic Conference action with a 15-10 triumph over Southern Virginia on a windy Saturday afternoon at Captains Field.

Squaring off against an SVU attack that entered the contest ranked 11th nationally in goals per game, Christopher Newport held up against the high-powered Knights. Scott McAneney matched his career-high with 19 saves, including a slew of highlight-reel stops on pointblank attempts. His 19 saves also equaled the third-highest single-game total in program history and marked the most by a Captain during a conference battle.

Helping McAneney silence the Knights, the defense forced 13 turnovers, including three by Max Wayne. Will Cogan, Drew Cornell, and Griffin Hanes all caused two apiece as well.

On the offensive side, Dylan Rice came through with his eighth consecutive hat-trick after slamming home four goals against SVU. Will Stockhausen also contributed three goals and an assist, while Jackson Deal and Brady Altobello helped balance out the attack with four points apiece.

With the victory, Christopher Newport improves to 8-3 on the season, including 1-0 in league action. The setback drops Southern Virginia to 5-6 and 0-1 against conference foes.

Despite a pair of quick goals by Rice and Altobello in the opening minutes of the first quarter, Southern Virginia was the aggressor early on. The Knights strung together four strikes during the first 15 minutes, including a pair of Zach Danneman, who entered the contest as the nation's leading goal-scorer. Staring at a 4-2 deficit entering the second period, CNU regrouped.

Shaking off the early stumble, the Captains unloaded on the Southern Virginia defense. Stockhausen fired a pair of long-range missiles, while Deal converted from up close following a skip pass by Altobello. Back on top, Campbell Pozin continued the rally with a lightning-quick assault. The midfielder scooped up a ground ball near the restraining line on the defensive side of the field. Three seconds later, the freshman speedster was hammering home a dagger on the doorstep to snatch a 6-4 edge with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.

Although the Knights eventually found the back of the net twice at the tail end of the second period, Rice and Stockhausen added tallies of their own to keep a two-goal cushion entering halftime.

With Southern Virginia looking to retaliate in the third quarter, the defense was up to the challenge. Cogan cleaned up some trash along the crease after tying up a Knight, who slipped inside for a brief moment. Later, Wayne blanketed the field. First, he sent an attacker flying through the air with a bruising body check. Although the visitors managed to regain possession, Wayne came back, lifted the stick of another Knight, and dislodged the ball before Pozin won a race to control the roller.

McAneney also made three quick saves in the early moments of the period, including a bullet off the facemask after SVU raced free on a fast clear. Later, he came back with a magical performance during a man-down situation after stoning back-to-back pointblank rockets.

Unfortunately, despite the defensive stand, Southern Virginia fought back. Following a goal by Glenn Doering to open the scoring in the third, the visitors scored three straight to even things at nine with three minutes left in the stanza.

Stealing back the momentum, Christopher Newport landed a pair of back-breaking blows in the final minute of the third period. First, Miles Collins tossed a pinpoint feed down to Lucas Barry, who capitalized along the right post. Later, after Tyler Iriondo won the ensuing faceoff, Stockhausen tossed the ball over to Jordan Lee, who slipped a screamer just inside the left pipe with only seconds remaining in the period.

Holding an 11-9 lead at the start of the fourth, the Captains put the game away with a lethal assault early in the final quarter. Rice hit the opposition with back-to-back goals, including a nifty shot from the inside after slipping underneath a defender along the crease. Moments later, Barry added his second dart to push the lead to 14-9 midway through the period.

Although Southern Virginia managed to toss one more goal on the board, Alex Horgan quickly responded with a lengthy laser off a pass from Altobello to put the finishing touches on the 15-10 triumph.

Overall, Christopher Newport out-shot SVU, 49-40, while the Knights held a slim 43-41 lead in ground balls. The Captains won 15 of the game's 28 faceoffs, including a strong 14-for-20 effort by Iriondo. The sophomore faceoff specialist also secured a team-high six ground balls during the victory.

CNU will return to action next Saturday when the squad travels to York (Pa.) for a nationally-ranked showdown with the Spartans beginning at 1 p.m.



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