NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport women's soccer team steadfastly held onto their position as the top-ranked team in the nation in both the United Soccer Coaches and D3soccer.com Top 25 polls this week and will host the University of Mary Washington (8-2-4) on Wednesday night. The Captains and Eagles are both riding lengthy unbeaten streaks heading into the matchup at Captains Field, which will kick off at approximately 7:00 p.m. 

After securing the No. 1 designation in the United Soccer Coaches Pre-Season Poll, the Captains have not relinquished their spot atop the rankings all season long, continuing to hold in the sixth poll of the regular season released on Tuesday, October 18. Misericordia slid up to No. 2, followed in order by Johns Hopkins, Case Western Reserve, and William Smith to round out the top five. 

In the D3soccer.com national rankings, the Captains picked up a season-high 18 first-place votes in the poll with their unblemished 12-0-1 start to the season. Misericordia has one first-place vote and is ranked second with Johns Hopkins, with three first-place votes, Case Western, with one, and William Smith wrapping up the top five in the country. 

CNU is currently riding one of the longest win streaks in the sport, with 11 consecutive victories ranking fourth in the country. The run of consecutive games without a loss has built to 36 consecutive games (34-0-2) since the start of 2021 and is tied with Catawba women's soccer (NCAA DII) for the longest active run by any NCAA team in a Fall sport at any level. In Division III, Stevens men's soccer owns a 21-match unbeaten streak while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has a 20-game roll in women's volleyball; Middlebury field hockey just saw a 42-game win streak come to a close on Saturday. 

The Captains feature one of the top defensive units in the nation with the eighth-best goals-against average in the country. CNU has earned shutouts in 69.2 percent of their games this season, ranking 15th nationally, and are holding opponents to just 7.4 shots per game. Led by two-time C2C Defensive Player of the Week Jill McDonald, the back line includes minutes leader Kate Eissenberg, assists co-leader Sarah Rhiel, and sophomore Re Slater, who has played full time in all three of her starts since returning from injury. 

Offensively, Emma Ricci has caught fire for the Captains over the last four games, scoring two goals and adding two assists for six points. She has factored into four of the six goals CNU has scored in that stretch, helping lift the Captains to a double-digit win streak for the third time under head coach Jamie Gunderson. 

Mary Washington is riding a 12-game unbeaten streak entering Wednesday night's matchup, which will serve as the 20th all-time meeting between the two programs. After dropping the first two games of the season, the Eagles have gone 8-0-4 the rest of the way. C2C Offensive Player of the Week Kaitlyn Venzen has been one of the leaders offensively as the rookie has eight goals and one assist for 17 points this season. Senior Amanda Krest is the scoring leader with 18 points on seven goals and four helpers. 

The game will be played as part of a doubleheader with the CNU men hosting Salisbury at 5:00 p.m. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com