NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team entered the D3soccer.com Top 25 for the first time in 2022 and moved up to No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches National Rankings as released by both polls on Tuesday. The Captains (6-1-0) will travel to Hampden-Sydney College on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff against the Tigers.
After a 2-1 win over Mary Washington, the Captains moved up five spots in the United Soccer Coaches poll, while also checking in at No. 24 in the D3soccer.com top 25 poll.
The match at Hampden-Sydney will be the first road contest of the year for the Captains, who will also play at No. 2 Messiah University later this week. CNU opened up the 2022 season with a 6-1-0 record over seven home games with the lone setback coming to Clarkson, who is now ranked as high as No. 16 in the nation.
CNU will travel to Hellmuth-Gibson Field on the campus of Hampden-Sydney for a 7:00 p.m. kick. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for all the action courtesy of the Tigers Athletics Department. A full recap and box score will be found at CNUsports.com immediately following the action.
Against the Eagles,
Mason Field became the ninth different goal scorer of the season for CNU in seven games so far. He notched a go-ahead goal off a pair of feeds from
Ryan Machado-Jones and
Ryan Kiely. Machado-Jones and Kiely each have two helpers this season, tied for the team lead with
Matt Liss and
Elton Quintanilla. Rookie
Asher Kuzemka holds a modest lead atop the scoring chart at CNU with five points on two goals and one assist.
Defensively, the Captains continue to be tough to score against, with a defense that has surrendered just three goals all season long. Senior goalkeeper
Ethan Larson has a 0.47 goals-against average and an .824 save percentage this season while starting all seven games in between the pipes. He is a two-time C2C Defensive Player of the Week and has made several game-saving stops already this season.
Hampden-Sydney has opened the year with a 5-1-2 overall record and is coming off a scoreless draw against Averett on Saturday. The CNU game represents the first of a pair against nationally-ranked foes for the Tigers this week, as they will also welcome Washington and Lee on Saturday. Zakky Johnston and Stefan Ngoh lead the way with eight points apiece while Emory Davis and Declan Shaw have each added six.
The Tigers also have a tough defense that has allowed just seven goals so far this season for a 0.91 goals-against average. Connor Kitson has done the bulk of the work in net with an .806 save percentage.
Following Wednesday night's matchup, CNU will hit the road for a nationally-ranked showdown with the Falcons of Messiah on Saturday, October 1.
United Soccer Coaches National Rankings (Week 4): https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men/
D3soccer.com Top 25 (Week 4): https://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2022/week4
