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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Just under three minutes into overtime, the fifth-ranked Christopher Newport women's soccer team turned to, who else, Riley Cook for an historic game-winning goal to propel the Captains (21-0-1) into the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer National Championship Game. The Captains handed No. 9 Loras College (21-1-2) their first loss of the season, 1-0, eliminating the Duhawks in the national semifinals at the UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, N.C. 

"Can't really put it into words," said head coach Jamie Gunderson. "We lost in the last semifinal when we were here, and now getting to that Final, it feels so good. These girls, again, day in and day out they show up and I can't be more proud of them. We made a few adjustments at halftime today and they worked so hard and I'm glad to see they were able to find that one goal to put us through."

In just the second Final Four appearance in program history, Christopher Newport advances to the team's first-ever national championship game on Saturday with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m. The Captains will take on top-ranked TCNJ (21-0-2), who defeated No. 14 Wesleyan, 1-0, in the other semifinal matchup this afternoon. 

The 2021 CNU women's soccer team is the first team to advance to the national championship game in tournament play since the 2011 volleyball team and is just the fourth program (baseball and softball) to reach the final game of the season in Christopher Newport Athletics history. The Captains become the first public institution to advance to the Division III finals in women's soccer since 2006 when The College of New Jersey appeared against Wheaton (IL). It will also be the first time that two state schools match up for the title since 1996.

Setting up the historic trip to the finals was another record-breaking score from fifth-year senior Riley Cook. With just two and half minutes expired in extra time, Sarah Rhiel sprung sophomore midfielder Emma Ricci free down the right side of the field. After taking multiple dribbles toward the six-yard box, Cook waited patiently at the top of the box before Ricci lofted a picture-perfect pass into the middle of the area for the all-time leading scorer to crash through with the one-touch goal into the right side. 

The connection was the 23rd goal of the season for Cook and the 34th career game-winning strike as the Mechanicsville, Va. native becomes the all-time, all-division, all-gender leader in winners. She has recorded six of the seven goals scored by the Captains in the NCAA Tournament this season including all five game-winning strikes. Ricci's seventh helper of the season was her first point of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, coming at the most opportune time to spark the Captains' victory. 

The match was played fairly evenly through the first half with both teams putting just a pair of shots on frame. The Captains, who allowed just 2.3 corner kicks per game coming into the matchup, surrendered five first-half set pieces from the corner and each gave the CNU defense a challenge. Up to the task, however, fifth-year goalkeeper Haley Eiser maintained control and turned away the most dangerous chances for the Duhawks. Re Slater also made a pair of pivotal defensive plays in the early going by playing a ball off the line and then won a 50-50 challenge in the six-yard box to turn away the chance. 

After the initial run forward for Loras, though, it was Christopher Newport that took control offensively. From the final ten minutes of the first half through the conclusion of the match, the Captains outshot Loras, 15-3. Cook was at the forefront of that attack, taking 13 shots to lead the team while Rhiel added two and five more Captains got into the mix with attempts. 

The first of those 15 shots came on a play eerily similar to the eventual winner as Ricci won a challenge right in front of the Loras bench and was set free for a long run down the right side. Once she got to the box, she found Cook down the middle, but her left-footed one-timer whistled just inches right of the post. 

Moments later, the senior leader diced up the Duhawks defense with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. She masterfully split a pair of defenders on the right side, methodically working her way up field. Once she got by those two, she had a clean look from inside the box and blistered a line drive off the right post.
 
The opportunities continued to mount for CNU at the end of the half. Molly Beegle had a shot in the box that deflected off a Loras defender, but the Duhawks keeper Kyndal Kells made the save on the ricochet. Just moments later, Cook had another whistling liner on frame, but Kells dove to her right to turn away the attempt.
 
Christopher Newport dominated the second half, pressuring Kells and the Loras defense with 10 shots including three on-goal. Cook in particular had a dominant second stanza with seven shots including a handful of dangerous opportunities inside the box.

By the end of regulation, the Captains held a decided 19-7 advantage in total shots and had held the Duhawks without a legitimate scoring opportunity after halftime. Abby Harrigan and Ellie Cox led the defense in the midfield while the back line of Jill McDonald, Slater, Nyah Savage, and Rhiel handled the duties of holding one of the nation's leading offenses without a goal for only the second time this season. 

With the job unfinished after 90 minutes, the Captains carried the momentum into the first overtime period and scored the program record-tying 21st win of the season with Cook's winner. 

Christopher Newport will now turn it's focus toward Saturday's final against the No. 1 Lions at 2:30 pm. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at NCAA.com and a viewing party will be held at Gaines Theater on campus.