NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Continuing the team's unbeaten streak with another two wins last week, the Captains women's soccer team held it's position as the top-ranked team in the nation according to both the United Soccer Coaches National Rankings and D3soccer.com Top 25 poll. Next up on the schedule, the No. 1 Captains travel to Roanoke College (5-3-0) to face the Maroons in a mid-week afternoon matchup with kickoff scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. 

Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for all the action in Salem on Wednesday, with both teams riding win streaks into the game. The host Maroons have won three straight, outscoring opponents 16-2 in that run while the Captains have run off seven wins in a row while improving to 8-0-1 on the year. 

The matchup favors the Captains, 10-5-0, in 15 previous appearances against the Maroons. CNU has won three straight in the series but Roanoke has a winning record against the Captains at home, 4-3-0. 

In the national rankings, Christopher Newport gathered 15 of the possible 21 first-place votes in the D3soccer.com Top 25, with No. 2 Messiah (4), No. 3 Misericordia (1), and No. 4 Johns Hopkins (1) picking up the remainder. Calvin rounds out the top-five in that poll, while the top five in the United Soccer Coaches rankings mirror that order but includes William Smith instead of Calvin in the No. 5 spot. 

Christopher Newport has not abandoned the top spot since garnering the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking after winning the 2021 national championship. CNU started the 2022 campaign as the pre-season favorite and has now been named the No. 1 team in each of the season's first three regular season polls. The Captains are 30-0-2 since the start of the 2021 season, matching TCNJ (2000-01) for the 11th longest streak in Division III history without suffering a loss. 

In Wednesday's afternoon game, the Captains will look to continue their win streak after a pair of hard-fought 1-0 wins at home last week. CNU toppled Randolph-Macon and Stevens at Captains Field with rookie Kyleigh Gough and senior Sarah Smith notching the game-winning goals. Smith leads the team and ranks second in the league in scoring with 17 points on eight goals and one assist, including three game-winning strikes. Gough is tied for second on the team with six points, putting away three scores in her first season. 

In the midfielder, Ellie Cox has led the unit in total minutes played with 730 over the first nine games and has been on the field over 90% of the possible minutes played this season for the Captains. Along with Kenna McCarthy, Maddie Blake and Abby Harrigan, the Captains' interior has been solid throughout the year. On the outside, senior starters Emily Talotta and Jessica Zimmermann have been effective while newcomers Molly Seventko and Katy Bronski continue to contribute as reserves. 

Roanoke will look to counter the Captains' veteran squad with a defense that has allowed only six goals in seven of their games this season. An 11-goal aberration against Hopkins skews solid defensive numbers that show the Maroons have allowed less than one goal per game in the rest of their contests. Junior goalkeeper Taylor Gallik has started seven of eight games with a pair of shutouts and 22 saves this season. On the attack, Roanoke is led by MC Petrucelli with 13 points and Morgan O'Neill with 12. The two have combined for 40 shots including 27 on frame. 

Following the Wednesday afternoon showdown, the Captains will get a breather from the schedule for nearly a week before traveling to Lynchburg for a Tuesday evening matchup with the Hornets on October 4.