While Christopher Newport looks forward to the return of intercollegiate competitions, CNUSports.com will 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
Kicking off an unprecedented streak of defensive dominance, the 13th-ranked Christopher Newport field hockey team registered a thrilling 2-1 victory over 6th-ranked Salisbury at Captains Field on September 5, 2007. After bursting onto the national scene with a victory over the Sea Gulls during the 2006 postseason, the Captains also won the rematch in historic fashion. Haylie Black slammed home the game-winning strike midway through the second half, while the defense suffocated the opposition over the final 29 minutes to seal the victory. Bolstered by that performance, Christopher Newport went on to silence its next eight opponents and establish a new school record with 613 consecutive minutes of shutout action.
 
BACKSTORY
At the outset of the 2007 campaign, there was a sense of continuity around the Christopher Newport field hockey team. Carrie Moura was entering her fifth season as the head coach of the Captains, providing much-needed stability to a young program in only its eighth year of existence. The roster was filled with familiar faces, too. In fact, 9 of the 11 starters from the 2006 squad were back on the field.
 
On the surface, little had changed. Except for the expectations.
 
Twelve months earlier, a nearly identical roster kicked off the 2006 season with little fanfare. They were a plucky group of talented players residing well outside of the national spotlight. But now? The spotlight was blinding. Of course, that's what happens when you defeat the three-time defending national champions in your first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
After shocking the field hockey world in 2006 by unseating Salisbury and advancing to the Elite Eight, the Captains were firmly on the radar. They entered 2007 slotted 13th in the NFHCA National Coaches Poll, marking the first time the program had ever been ranked at the start of a season. In the span of one year, Christopher Newport went from a spirited upstart to a national contender.
 
With the bar raised in 2007, it seemed only fitting that their first Division III test came against the squad that was partially responsible for the elevated expectations.
 
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
While Christopher Newport was new to the spotlight, Salisbury was born into it. The Sea Gulls were a perennial power. They won their first national championship 14 years before the Captains fielded their first team. And the wins kept coming. Entering the 2006 playoffs, they had won 12 consecutive games in the NCAA Tournament while becoming the first Division III field hockey team to win three straight national titles.
 
But all of that ended when Haylie Black landed an overtime dagger in the second round of the 2006 tournament. That strike snapped Salisbury's championship streak and handed the upstart Captains a stunning 2-1 triumph in Annville, Pennsylvania.
 
Coming off that shocking setback, Salisbury entered 2007 looking to rebound. Similar to Christopher Newport, the Sea Gulls featured a roster stocked with an impressive collection of veterans, including seven starters from their previous battle with the Captains. Kicking off the 2007 campaign ranked sixth in the nation, Salisbury had already opened the year with a 5-1 dismantling of St. Mary's (Md.), which served as an effective tune-up for the much-anticipated rematch against Christopher Newport.
 
GAME RECAP
Nearly 300 days since their historic meeting in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Christopher Newport and Salisbury made sure the sequel lived up to the hype. No longer a David-versus-Goliath showdown, it was now a bout between two national heavyweights: One squad looking for revenge. The other looking for a repeat.
 
Facing an attack that ranked third in the nation in scoring during the 2007 season, the Captains were bolstered by their defensive unit. Tested early, Christopher Newport brushed aside every first-half advance. Emma Stout made a pair of quick stops between the pipes, while Kelly Jo Broadhurst swooped in for a huge defensive save during a sustained rally in the middle of the period. The hosts also faced four penalty corners during the first 35 minutes but handled all of them, including three without surrendering a shot.
 
Entering halftime in a scoreless deadlock, the Captains broke through in the second period. Orchestrating the first offensive surge of the stanza, Ashley Cybulski lit up the scoreboard with a dart off a feed from Stephanie Bair in the 41st minute. Although the Sea Gulls responded less than 60 seconds later, Christopher Newport was undeterred.
 
Picking up the pressure on the offensive side, the Captains earned five straight corners during a three-minute span, which eventually led to a Salisbury timeout. After the stoppage, the onslaught continued. Although Cybulski and Black had on-target rips turned away, they never backed down. Eventually, in the 55th minute, Black found an opening and tattooed the back of the cage for the go-ahead goal.
 
Fostering a 2-1 advantage, Christopher Newport never let the Sea Gulls pull even again. With their backs against the wall, the visitors managed only three shots over the final 15 minutes. Senior defenders Jacque Mayer and Rhiannon Thomasson helped the back line put a lid on nearly every offensive surge, while Stout cleaned up with three more saves, including two in the waning moments, to seal the win.
 
POSTSCRIPT
The victory over Salisbury was just the beginning. Following that triumph, Christopher Newport's defensive unit quickly reached legendary status. Stifling the opposition, the Captains orchestrated eight consecutive shutouts from September 8 - October 6. Overall, the squad did not allow a single goal over the course of 613 consecutive minutes - a run that also included wins against No. 20 Lynchburg and No. 9 Johns Hopkins.
 
Aided by that run of dominance, the 2007 field hockey team became just the second Christopher Newport program to earn first-place votes in a national coaches poll. Eventually, the Captains made a return trip to the NCAA Tournament and finished the year ranked third in the country in goals-against-average (0.79) and seventh in shutouts (10).
 
On an individual level, freshman goalkeeper Elexa Nosonchuk led the NCAA with an incredible .887 save percentage, while her 0.46 goals-against-average ranked second in the country. Meanwhile, Stout also had four wins and a pair of shutouts during the year and was responsible for the masterpiece against Salisbury.
 
Along with the goalies, the team's defensive unit was basically an impenetrable blockade. During the historic shutout streak, Thomasson, Broadhurst, and Courtney Russ all registered defensive saves, while Mayer - a future Christopher Newport Athletics Hall of Fame inductee - was a 70-minute machine. All-American Ashley Hay and National All-Rookie selection Stephanie Bair were also key figures during that streak, which remains over 250 minutes longer than the next-best shutout run in program history.
 
Meanwhile, the offense was equally potent. Black and Diana Golden eventually earned All-Region honors for their work during the year and tied for the team-lead with 10 goals apiece. Ashley Traylor also had nine strikes and eventually matched the program record with 41 career tallies.
 
To this day, the 2007 squad still holds a special place in Christopher Newport lore. During the program's annual Senior Day ceremony, every graduating member of the team receives a bouquet of eight flowers. Those flowers represent Broadhurst, Golden, Hay, Mayer, Thomasson, Traylor, Brittney Touchard, and Amber Marsh - the eight seniors on the 2007 squad who helped the Captains break into the national spotlight while paving the way for all of the historic achievements that have followed.
 
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