CHESTER, Pa. -- The top-ranked Christopher Newport women's soccer team cruised to their fifth straight win on Sunday behind the first career hat trick from senior Sarah Smith. The Captains (6-0-1) defeated Widener University on the road by a final score of 5-0 with Smith, the team's leading scorer, notching her seventh goal in the five-game winning streak. 

The Norfolk, Va. native becomes the 16th player in program history to score at least three goals in a game and records just the third hat trick away from home since 2014. Smith now has scored 16 career goals in just 30 games for a 0.53 goals per game average, ranking sixth all-time at CNU. 

The first of her three goals came in the 11th minute and was off an assist by Emily Talotta, who registered her second helper of the year to give Talotta her 23rd career assist. It also held up as the game-winning goal for her second of the season and seventh in her career, ranking tied for 12th most in program history. 

The Captains added a second goal in the first half when Emma Ricci scored an unassisted tally in the 26th minute to take a 2-0 lead. In the first half, Christopher Newport took 16 shots, putting seven on frame, to carry the 2-0 advantage into the intermission. 

Unsatisfied with the lead, the CNU attack got back to work in the second half with Smith leading the charge. With back-to-back goals in less than five minutes of action early in the second half, Smith put the finishing touches on her hat trick. In the 54th minute, she scored an unassisted strike before putting away her third goal in the 59th minute off a pass from Molly Seventko. 

Finally, Kyleigh Gough added her second goal of the season when she found the back of the net in the 74th minute of play. 

While the offense was firing on all cylinders, taking 33 shots with 16 on net, the midfielders and defense were a suffocating unit on Sunday and did not allow a single shot to the home team. It is the first time since the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament that the Captains did not allow an attempt and only the fourth time since 2014 that the back line has kept their opponent from taking a shot. 

Rookie Kate Eissenberg was the only CNU player to log all 90 minutes, locking down the back line for the Captains. Helping assist on the clean sheet was Jill McDonald, Sarah Rhiel, and Nyah Savage in the starting lineup with Courtney Ennis, Caroline Davis, and Jackie Stallard helping secure the shutout. 

In goal, Jaya Daniel picked up the win with the first half while Abby Ochs finished out the combined effort by playing the second. 

In addition to the starting unit, the Captains saw action from Natalie Swarm, Caroline Suder, QB Osuna, Molly Beegle, Corinne Kulik, Abby Pogreba, Callie Birk, Hannah Calliott, and Maddie Blake. Twenty of the 33 CNU shots came from the reserves in Sunday's blowout victory. 

With the win, CNU has now made it 30 consecutive games without a loss, moving into a tie for the 12th longest streak in Division III history. In all of NCAA Women's Soccer (Divisions I, II, and III) only 17 programs have logged longer runs without a loss in their history. 

Christopher Newport returns home for two games this week as they will host Randolph-Macon College on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m. They will then take on Stevens on Saturday, September 24 at 11:00 a.m.