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
Piecing together an offensive clinic, Wendy Wilson added her name to the history books as the second-year sensation shattered the NCAA single-game records for goals and points while leading the Christopher Newport field hockey team to a 15-0 victory at Trinity (D.C.) on September 28, 2001. Against the Tigers, Wilson supplied the firepower with nine goals and four assists. Her 22 points easily eclipsed the previous NCAA record of 17, while her nine goals were two more than any other collegiate player had ever posted in a single contest.
 
BACKSTORY
When Wendy Wilson enrolled at Christopher Newport, there was no varsity field hockey team awaiting her arrival. It didn't exist. Prior to her time in Newport News, she was a decorated multi-sport standout. At Thomas Edison High School, she accrued 16 varsity letters and built an incredible résumé as a competitor in field hockey, softball, basketball, cross country, and track. But as a freshman at Christopher Newport? She was simply a Dean's List student, who would have been the first pick if a field hockey game broke out in a leisure studies class.
 
However, in 2000, she had a new outlet. Christopher Newport put together a varsity field hockey team, and Wilson was an inaugural member. By the end of that first season, she was the program's leading scorer with 10 goals and 24 points. Returning in 2001, the Alexandria, Virginia native didn't miss a beat. Midway through her second campaign, she led the squad with five goals and 14 points entering a road tilt at Trinity (D.C.).
 
GAME RECAP
Coming into their bout with Trinity, the Captains were sitting at 3-3 on the year. Battling the best teams in the region, Christopher Newport had just embarked on a formidable road swing that led the squad to national powers Salisbury and Lynchburg, who both advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2001. Back on the road, the team traveled for another showdown at Trinity in Washington, D.C.
 
Unloading on the opposition, Christopher Newport flashed its high-powered attack during a 15-0 victory. By the time the dust settled, 10 different Captains had registered at least one point and seven had found the back of the cage. Shannon Lia opened the scoring with her fourth tally of the season and her first career game-winning strike. Meanwhile, April Cullen also chipped in with a career-high four points, and Samantha Fredo, Amber Godfrey, and Ashley Roberson all had a goal and an assist.
 
But Wilson stole the show.
 
Smashing her own single-game scoring records, Wilson set new standards with nine goals and 22 points. Those totals easily outdistanced her three-goal, seven-point showing against Sweet Briar in 2000. Although she connected on half of her shots against the Tigers, she also flashed her passing skills. Finishing the contest with four assists, she established a new school standard in that category as well.
 
Rounding out the scorers, Meagan Pfarr drove home her first goal of the year, while Ashley Alston, Jonelle Hanson, and Kristi Parker added assists. Overall, the 15 goals scored by the Captains established a new program record and equaled the 11th-highest total in the history of collegiate field hockey.
 
On the defensive side, Christopher Newport surrendered only one shot against Trinity, which Elizabeth Werbiskis brushed aside in the second half. Eventually, she and Jessica Trosclair combined for the 70-minute shutout, marking the team's second blanking of the year.
 
POSTSCRIPT
Search "Wendy Wilson" in the NCAA record books, and her name still appears at the top of the single-game scoring lists. In fact, since that record-setting performance in 2001, no one has even come close to matching her totals. In the thousands of collegiate field hockey contests that have taken place since Wilson's showcase, no player has registered more than 15 points in a game, and only one has even reached seven goals. A 20-point game in college field hockey remains the same as a 100-point game in the NBA. It's been done once. And only once.
 
By the end of the 2001 campaign, Wilson amassed 21 goals and 52 points. Both of those totals remain unmatched in program history. In her three seasons, she established school standards with 41 goals and 101 points. Nearly two decades later, she remains second all-time in points, while her goals record has been tied twice but remains unbroken.
 
For her work as a trailblazer in both field hockey and women's lacrosse, Wilson was inducted into the Christopher Newport Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
 
After graduating, Wilson transitioned to the sidelines. She spent five years as an assistant with the women's lacrosse program at Christopher Newport and helped the Captains win their first three conference titles. However, her greatest moments came as a field hockey coach at nearby Tabb High School. Establishing herself as one of the nation's leading field hockey coaches, she won seven state championships with the Tigers while finishing with 291 career victories, which still stands as the fourth-highest total in Virginia history. Among a litany of other coaching honors, she was named the National High School Field Hockey Coach of the Year by multiple organizations, including the National Field Hockey Coaches Association.
 
Among the many collegiate players that Wilson coached at Tabb, two are current Captains. All-American Courtney Fiest and second-year standout Sarah Mueller both played for Wilson. Incidentally, Mueller became the fourth Captain in school history to record a hat-trick in the first half of a game during a bout against Virginia Wesleyan in 2019. The first Captain to accomplish that feat? Wendy Wilson. Against Trinity (D.C.). Meanwhile, Fiest tied the single-game school record with 18 shots against Randolph-Macon in 2017. Who set the record? Wendy Wilson. Against Trinity (D.C.).

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