NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Senior Sam Dickinson last stepped foot on a collegiate pitch on November 16, 2019 when he played a pivotal role in the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team's heart-breaking loss to Swarthmore in the NCAA Tournament second round. On Friday night, one thousand twenty-one days later, in the first game of the 2022 campaign the midfielder wasted little time making an impact in his return to play for the 11th-ranked Captains as he buried the game-winning goal in the first half to lead CNU to a 1-0 victory over Eastern University in the Steve Shaw Classic. 

Alongside the rest of his teammates, Dickinson was forced to miss the entirety of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Then, as the team ratcheted up for the 2021 return, the veteran ruptured his Achilles tendon during the summer and forced the Captain to miss another year. Over 1,000 days later, the Blacksburg, Va. native made his much-anticipated return off the bench in the 19th minute of action; exactly seven minutes later, he was tucking a picture-perfect left-footed shot into the right side of the goal for the eventual gamewinner. 

The second career goal for Dickinson came off a nice feed from newcomer Elton Quintanilla, who collected a loose ball in the midfield and shuffled a bouncer toward the top of the box. Dickinson cut off his defender and got a single touch toward the line before gathering and ripping a low liner past the sliding goalkeeper. 

The shot would hold up as the game's only tally as the two teams spent 90 minutes battling for positioning in the midfield. The Captains held a decided 14-3 advantage in total shots, but attempts on frame were limited to just three total shots on goal with CNU taking all three. Eastern goalkeeper Ty Bleiler made a big save on a penalty kick attempt for Christopher Newport that came early in the second half. He also stopped a shot taken by Ryan Machado-Jones in the first five minutes after intermission to finish the game with two saves. 

Though attempts on net were limited, the Captains put together a number of excellent chances in the contest. In the 59th minute, senior midfielder Brendan Todd escaped a defender with the ball at midfield and churned down the sideline. After a pair of touches, he saw Machado-Jones on the run and Todd bent a nifty outside-footed pass around the last defender into space for his attacking teammate. A center back chased back and challenged the chance, but the Christopher Newport attack continued to build. Later in the period, Mason Field and Jason LaViola each had shots blocked in the box. 

On the other end of the field, the Captains put together a stifling defensive effort to earn the team's first shutout of the season. Fifth-year goalkeeper Ethan Larson was not challenged with a shot on-goal in the contest, but he made several key plays coming off his line to eliminate the Eagles runs down the field. A late corner kick was defended well by the Captains as Kyle Stenzel cleared the ball out of the box, and the back line for Christopher Newport stood tall from start to finish. Jacob Dudley and Ryan Kiely each played the full 90 in the clean sheet while Jonah Fitz and Jonathon Leiding each played a significant roles in the shutout. 

The Captains improved to 3-0 in season openers under head coach Justin Chezem and are now 14-0-5 in home games under the helmsman during the last three seasons. 

With the loss, Eastern opens the season 0-1-0 and will take on Virginia Wesleyan University on Saturday as part of the Steve Shaw Classic. CNU is 1-0-0 and will host Moravian University (0-1-0), who lost 1-0 to the Marlins on Friday afternoon. Christopher Newport and Moravian are set to kick off at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 3 with live stats and video available at CNUsports.com