While Christopher Newport looks forward to the return of intercollegiate competitions, our friends at TowneBank are partnering with CNUsports.com to spend some time throughout the fall semester looking back at a few of the more memorable moments in the storied history of the athletic department. Over the course of the next three months, the Captains will honor the anniversary of three dozen record-setting accomplishments, championship-clinching victories, and other historic events in order to celebrate the past while preparing for even more great moments in the future.
 
AT A GLANCE
 
"It was a great time for Christopher Newport's fourth year women's soccer team to score its first victory over a nationally ranked foe," read the lede in the Daily Press the day after October 28, 2000 when the Captains had just toppled perennial power and 14^th-ranked North Carolina Wesleyan. A great time, indeed, as the Captains secured the inaugural Dixie Conference Tournament Championship and its subsequent NCAA Division III Tournament berth with the win. A 2-1 overtime victory on the road made definitive history for the young soccer program in Newport News and laid the groundwork for a dominating run atop the conference.  
 
BACKSTORY
The Christopher Newport women's soccer program began play in 1997 and in just their fourth season of action, the Captains were already working under their third head coach. Melissa Mitchell took the reins for just a single year in Captains history with her work in the 2000 campaign, but she made a memorable mark in her short stint.
 
The women's soccer play in the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (DIAC, now known as the USA South Athletic Conference), was dominated by North Carolina Wesleyan College in the 90's. Starting in 1992, the Battling Bishops won at least a share of the conference title in six of eight seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year. The Captains aimed to disrupt that dominance in 1999 but N.C. Wesleyan edged out Christopher Newport by one game with a head-to-head victory to capture their fourth consecutive regular season conference championship.
 
Prior to 2000, the regular season champion represented the league in the NCAA Tournament but in 2000, the league adopted a conference tournament. The Bishops would again capture the regular season title with a perfect 6-0 record in conference play, but the new postseason format offered an opportunity for an upset. Christopher Newport obliged.
 
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
As mentioned, the Battling Bishops were the cream of the crop in Dixie Conference women's soccer throughout the 90's. From 1992-2000, N.C. Wesleyan was 42-2-3 in conference play for a winning percentage of 92.5%; in the five years heading into the 2000 postseason, the Bishops hadn't lost a game in over 30 contests. It remains the longest conference unbeaten streak in program history
 
In 1996, the Bishops were ranked as high as 16^th nationally; in 1997 and 1999 they hauled in a top-ten billing at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. After having reached the NCAA National Quarterfinals in 1999, N.C. Wesleyan was a mainstay in the national rankings during the 2000 campaign. They started the year ranked No. 7 and climbed to a program-best fifth early in the season. Heading into the postseason, they had clocked in at No. 14 in three consecutive polls after logging 15 wins in their first 18 games.
 
N.C. Wesleyan was led by a stellar defense that featured two first team All-Conference defenders and the league's top goalkeeper in Rachael Whicker. Whicker finished the season ranked 17^th nationally with only 12 goals allowed and a 0.56 goals-against average. Leading the defense was four-time first team All-Conference selection Shannon St. George, who would go on to set the program record for games played and still holds that record today.
 
Heading into the first ever DIAC Conference Championship, the Battling Bishops had outscored opponents 60-8 in 19 games.
 
GAME RECAP
Just ten days before the Captains got on the bus to travel to Rocky Mount, N.C. for a rematch, the nationally-ranked Battling Bishops defeated Christopher Newport, 4-0, to lock up the team's fifth consecutive regular season title. Unlike the previous four, however, it would not assure them the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament as the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference had instituted a postseason championship tournament prior to the 2000 season.  
 
While the Captains were set on a record-breaking pace in their fourth season, the shutout to the Bishops was disheartening. CNU had allowed just 10 goals in the previous 12 games including seven combined in just two games. In other words, the Captains were defensively sound, allowing one goal or less in the first eight games of the season and picking up seven shutouts during the season.
 
Tiffany Swiney led the defensive effort with her 17 starts in goal. Over the first eight games, she was one of only nine players in the nation to not allow a single goal, putting together an impressive shutout streak of nearly 425 minutes which was easily the longest in short program history to that point. Also leading the way for the back line was All-Region defender Elke Reisdorph, who Mitchell called "the force behind everything" at the conclusion of the season.
 
It would be that defense that led the way in the 2000 DIAC Conference Championship against the Bishops. Facing a team that had scored 60 goals for an average of 3.2 per game, Reisdorph, Swiney and Co. were up to the task the second time around. The Bishops did score first, when Caitlin Sanderson deposited an unassisted tally in the 29^th minute, but Swiney made eight saves on the remaining shots on-goal in the game.
 
Meanwhile, after managing just nine shots against the Bishops in the regular season matchup, the Captains ratcheted up the attack in the title-clinching victory. With eight shots in the second half alone, Whicker was pressured time and time again. Defender Erin Smith was the first to score for the Captains when she whipped in a shot in the 78^th minute of action to tie the game at one goal apiece. Neither team would score again in regulation and the teams headed to extra time.
 
In 2000, the overtime rules called for a maximum of two sudden victory periods 15 minutes in length. N.C. Wesleyan dominated the first overtime period, outshooting the Captains, 5-0, as they tried to capture the first ever conference tournament title. After switching sides, though, it would be an early opportunity off corner that would make history for the Captains.
 
It is not hyperbolic to say at the time, Laura McFerrin's right foot cashed in the biggest goal in program history at the start of the second overtime period. With two defenders screening Whicker, McFerrin's shot tickled the twine and marked just the third time a team had scored more than once against the Bishops all season long. It also signified the end of the game, the clinching of the first ever DIAC women's soccer tournament championship, and the fledgling program's first ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament punched.
 
POSTSCRIPT
Among the firsts notched with the victory was the first ever win over a nationally-ranked opponent as the unseasoned Captains toppled the 14^th-ranked Bishops for the first time in the series. It also amounted to Christopher Newport being selected to host the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Villa Julie (now Stevenson). Though the Mustangs would capture a 2-1 overtime win over the Captains, the season was wrapped with a wildly successful 12-4-1 overall record. In the loss, Amy Petko found Shelley Rusnak for the first postseason goal in program history with 14:11 remaining in regulation.
 
After leading the team to the finest year since starting the program, Melissa Mitchell left to take a job as the assistant women's soccer coach at Penn State. In her first year on the sidelines with the Nittany Lions, the team logged an impressive 21-4-1 overall record, won the Big Ten Championship and advanced all the way to the NCAA Division I National Quarterfinals before being eliminated by North Carolina.
 
The fourth-year program started the season 8-0 and posed nine shutouts, six of them consecutively. Christopher Newport finished at 5-1 in the Dixie Conference and won its tournament championship. It was the first and only time the Captains and Bishops would match up in the championship game, but sparked a run of six conference titles in an 11-year span for Christopher Newport.
 
Moreover, the win over nationally-ranked N.C. Wesleyan proved to the Captains that they belonged with the best in the conference, the region, and the nation. Under the direction of Kwame Lloyd for the next seven years, Christopher Newport would secure three more conference titles as well as four regular season championships. The tide in the conference shifted in favor of the Captains, who would advance to the 2004 NCAA National Quarterfinals and compete in the postseason again in 2005 and 2006.
 
 
For a full listing of the fall 2020 features published to date, click here.