SALISBURY, Md. -- Taking on the Sea Gulls in two of the next three games, the Christopher Newport men's soccer team will travel to Salisbury University for the first matchup on Saturday at 2:00 pm. The Captains will look to extend it's modest three-game win streak after improving to 6-3-2 with a 2-0 win over No. 5 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday afternoon.
CNU will take on a Salisbury squad that is 5-5-1 overall this season and just had a four-match unbeaten streak snapped at Gettysburg on Wednesday, 3-1. This will be the 40th all-time matchup between the two teams with Salisbury holding a slight 19-15-5 advantage in the all-time series. CNU is 5-1-4 against the Gulls in the last ten, which has featured eight games decided by one goal or less.
On Wednesday, the Captains picked up a marquee victory with a 2-0 shutout over Hopkins with rookie goalkeeper
Gabe Barros in net making his first career appearance. He is the first CNU netminder to face a nationally-ranked opponent in his debut since 2012 when
Sean Killion took on No. 1 Ohio Wesleyan in his first game on August 31, 2012, earning a 2-2 draw. Barros became the first Captain to win a debut appearance against a ranked opponent since 2005 when Jonathan Anderson took down No. 13 Wilmington, 2-0, on September 4, 2005. Current assistant coach
Shawn Trueblood was a member of the Captains defense at the time, helping shut out the vaunted Wilmington attack.
This season, the CNU defense has logged four shutouts overall, including Wednesday's blanking of the Blue Jays. Seniors
Davis Pillow and
Daniel Hulett start on the inside with
Jacob Dudley and
Jonathon Leiding handling the outside back duties. Allowing just 1.00 goals per game, the Captains back line has held opponents to just 8.2 shots per game so far this season.
Offensively, senior
Cory Hogge and junior
Chris Schram lead the Captains with three goals and an assist for seven points.
Will Collins and
Owen Burnett have each scored twice while adding a pair of helpers for six points.
Salisbury enters the match led by rookies Brady Young and Ethan Dolezal, combining for 19 points on eight goals and three assists. The top five scorers for the Sea Gulls are rookies with Owen Peters, Kiran Chikmath, and Alex Floyd also bolstering the young lineup. In goal, sophomore Gabe Dunn has started eight games with a 1.82 GAA while sophomore Ryan Miller has started twice with a 1.04 GAA.
For fans unable to attend the match in Maryland on Saturday, live stats and a live video webcast will be available online.
Following Saturday's bout, the Captains will stay on the road for a match at Mary Washington on October 23 before returning home for Senior Day on October 27 against Salisbury.
