NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Putting the punctuation mark on a historic regular season of women's soccer action, the 4th-ranked Captains emphatically slammed the door on an unbeaten regular season with a 5-1 win over the University of Lynchburg (13-4-0) on Saturday night. Behind the seventh career hat trick recorded by Riley Cook, Christopher Newport improved to 14-0-1 overall and will now turn it's focus to postseason play. 

The margin of victory was the largest ever for the Captains over the Hornets, who were receiving votes in both Division III soccer national polls. With the loss, Lynchburg falls to 13-4-0 on the year. 

An exciting start to the game featured action moving toward both ends as Lynchburg looked to assert offensive pressure early. Out of the aggressive play, though, the first goal of the match for CNU would come just over seven minutes into the match. On a counter attack, the Captains took advantage of a gap in the defense when Nyah Savage played a ball to Sarah Smith for an absolutely spectacular service up field for Cook streaking beyond the defense. WIth a one-on-one play against the keeper, Cook attempted to touch by, but was fouled in the box to earn a penalty kick. Stepping in and drilling her sixth career goal from the spot, Cook opened her impressive night with the first goal of the match. 

She tacked on her second goal of the match about 15 minutes later when Emily Talotta notched her team-leading seventh assist of the season. After receiving a pass on the left side from Smith, Talotta slipped another gorgeous through ball for Cook on the left side. She faced up the ball and ripped a hard shot off the left post and into the goal to put the Captains ahead, 2-0. The goal would hold up as the 29th game-winning strike of Cook's career as she continues to climb the all-time list in NCAA play. Since the stat started being recorded in 2010, Cook now ranks tied for sixth in NCAA history across all three divisions (I, II, and III). It was also the 19th career helper for Talotta in just her second season of action, moving into seventh all-time at CNU. 

Not finished adding to her impressive Senior Night performance as the all-time leading scorer took Captains Field for the final time in regular season play, Cook added an assist just moments later. Approximately a minute and a half later, Cook took one of CNU's 15 corner kicks in the match and found sophomore Emma Ricci open on the near post for the goal. Ricci raced in front of the keeper and bodied in the tally for her fourth goal of the season. 

The lead would hold at 3-0 headed into halftime, when CNU held a distinct 16-1 advantage in total shots in the game. The Captains' attack put eight shots on frame in the first half and added another pair that ricocheted off the crossbar for near misses. 

In the second half, the dominant offensive performance would continue in the 70th minute on a nice rebound shot from Maddie Blake. Smith set up Beegle for a hard rip at the top of the box that was saved by the Lynchburg keeper, but Blake wasted no time with the second effort, putting away her third goal of the year. 

Lynchburg got on the board minutes later when Maddy Myers took advantage of a defensive mishap for the Captains, volleying in a shot from inside the box for her third score of the year. The Captains retaliated quickly, however, and pushed the lead back to four on the historic third goal of Cook's night. 

In the 78th minute, a foul was whistled just outside the box in the center of the field and Cook stepped up to take the shot from about 22 yards out. She capped the scary-good effort the night before Halloween with a perfectly-placed line drive into the upper 90. Her 83rd career goal finished out her seventh career hat trick -- more than double any other player in program history. Adding the assist, Cook notched her sixth career performance with seven points or more in a game.

While the fireworks obviously came mostly on the offensive end, senior goalkeeper Haley Eiser put together a highlight-reel performance of her own in the second half. Forced to make four saves in a five-minute span early in the second stanza, Eiser was terrific between the pipes. She made a diving stop on a shot by Amanda Wigboldy destined for the left pocket and on the ensuing corner kick, smothered another short range bullet, this one from Myers. With seven total saves, Eiser posted a season-high in stops in the complete game victory.

Overall, the Captains took 26 shots and held the Hornets to 10 in the game. 

With the win, the 2021 regular season campaign goes down in history as just the fifth undefeated regular season in CNU Athletics history and the second time for the CNU Women's Soccer program. This year's women's soccer Captains join 2006-07 women's tennis, 2009-10 women's basketball, 2011 men's soccer, and the 2017 women's soccer teams to accomplish the unbeaten run through the regular season. 

Christopher Newport will return to action next weekend at Salisbury University for the 2021 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament. Seedings for the event will be announced on Monday, November 1 with the tournament first round played on November 4, semifinals on November 5, and the championship game on November 6.