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 more great moments in the future.
 
AT A GLANCE
 
The youngest memory on the list for the Legends of the Fall series comes today, when just one year ago, a record-setting phenom toppled the all-time goals scored mark for Christopher Newport women's soccer. Established as a destructive force on the CNU record books from the moment she stepped onto campus, Riley Cook has not only been the best goal scorer in Captains history, but the most prolific in Capital Athletic Conference history as well. On September 22, 2019, Cook, still early in her junior campaign, took on nationally-ranked Trinity (Texas) and scored the 47^th and 48^th goals of her career, taking over sole possession of the top spot all-time.
 
BACKSTORY
In the span of less than 10 days during her junior season, Riley Cook became the third player in program history to score 100 points, broke the career goals scored record, led the team to the highest national ranking ever, and finally capped her impressive run as the all-time leading scorer. From September 20-28, Cook logged arguably the most memorable run of success in CNU Athletics history by scoring nine straight goals and shattering record after record along the way.
 
Leading the potent Captains attack, Cook scored in each half against Mary Hardin-Baylor for a 2-0 win on the road before notching two goals in a 42-second span against No. 23 Trinity. With the four-goal performance, the CNU junior was named the United Soccer Coaches Division III Women's Soccer National Player of the Week and the Captains were ranked No. 3 nationally for the first time ever.
 
During the week, several records went down including one of the biggest marks in program history as Cook became the Captains' all-time leading goal scorer with her 48^th career goal to pass former leader Emma O'Reilly. She also set the school record for fastest consecutive goals scored by the same player with her 42 second burst and kicked off a record-setting run with nine straight goals scored for the Captains. By the end of the nine-day stretch, Cook also took her place atop the career scoring column during a record-tying four-goal performance against York (Pa.).
 
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
After reaching the NCAA Division III National Semifinals in 2018, the Captains were one of the top teams in the country entering the 2019 season. In an effort to continue to raise the level of Christopher Newport women's soccer, head coach Dan Weiler scheduled perennial power Trinity University of Texas as part of a mid-September road trip to the Lone Star State. The Tigers were ranked as high as 11^th during the 2019 campaign before carrying a top-25 pegging headed into the matchup with the Captains.
 
Just two years prior, Christopher Newport shut out the Tigers in Virginia Beach, 1-0, as part of the Virginia Wesleyan season-opening tournament. That win proved historic as it was the first regular season loss for then-5^th ranked Trinity since 2012. In 2019, Trinity reached the NCAA Tournament for the 25^th time and, one of the top programs in the nation, the Tigers have advanced to three Final Fours and one national championship game. The 2013 national runners-up, Trinity had been shut out just eight times in eight seasons.
 
GAME RECAP
The nationally-ranked battle favored the Captains throughout the match but remained scoreless through the first half despite a decided advantage in total shots. Then, early in the second half, a 42-second span would flip the scoreless match into a 2-0 lead for the Captains.
 
On the first goal, senior midfielder Shaye Doherty played a long ball into the right corner for senior Carson Pokorny, who won the footchase with her defender. Pokorny's first touch was a cross into the box for Cook and the junior promptly tied O'Reilly's goal-scoring record with a shot into the top of the goal.
 
Off the next whistle, the Captains' All-American forward wasted no time in extending the lead to 2-0 and securing the top spot on the Christopher Newport goal scoring chart. A nice run by Emily Talotta down the left side found the junior open for a cross into the box. A Trinity defender intercepted the pass, but the ball glanced off her foot right to the center of the box where Cook was loose and crashing alone. With an open look at the goal, the Mechanicsville, Va. native hammered home a left-footed shot into the left side of the goal.
 
With two goals in just 42 seconds of play, Cook also set the program record for fastest consecutive goals by the same player, besting the previous mark of 1:07 in 2007 by Amanda Peters vs. Johns Hopkins University.
 
While Cook and the offense stole the headline, the defensive performance against the Tigers was one of the most impressive ever as CNU shut out the powerful Tigers for just the ninth time since the start of the 2012 season. That run included 165 total games and twice it was Christopher Newport who authored the clean sheet.
 
POSTSCRIPT
The individual success that Riley Cook has etched into Christopher Newport women's soccer lore is hard to abbreviate. During each of her first three years, the Captains' forward has miniaturized the previous offensive records across the board – for her class, for a single game, season, and now over the course of her career.
 
As a rookie, Cook's pace was set in a record-shattering groove as she became the highest scoring freshman in CNU history with 34 points on 15 goals. As a sophomore, she set the single season program scoring mark overall with 56 points after a record 25 goals scored. After the aforementioned record-setting streak in the middle of her junior year, Cook went on to reset the single season standard in 2019 with 26 goals scored.
 
She concluded her third year with 145 career points on 66 goals and 13 assists.
 
In just three seasons, Cook has scored more goals and tallied more points than every four-year Captain in both men's and women's soccer history at Christopher Newport. More than 700 student-athletes have played soccer in Newport News and over 200 have played four or more seasons; with a season left to play, Cook has put them all in her rear-view.
 
Catarina Macario, Ava Cook, Riley Cook.
 
Macario, a Stanford legend, two-time Hermann Trophy winner for the Cardinal, and likely future Olympian and national team star, leads all active players with 173 career points. Ava Cook, a national-championship winning All-American from Grand Valley State in Division II, returns to the field in 2020 with 159 points. But that's it. The only two active players who have scored more points than CNU's Riley Cook. While the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled the senior season expected in 2020 for the illustrious scorer, every goal notched and every point scored during her fourth campaign will be the cherry on top of an already exceptionally played career.

For a full listing of the fall 2020 features published to date, click here.