FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team is headed up to Fredericksburg on Saturday afternoon to take on the second-ranked University of Mary Washington in the regular season finale. Kickoff against the Eagles (13-1-2) is set for 1:00 p.m. as the final tune-up before next week's Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship in Santa Cruz, California.
The Captains (10-2-2) will face the next chapter in one of the longest standing rivalries in program history as the two teams will play for the 56th time in the last 46 years. The two teams have played at least once in all but one season since 1977 as the Captains have a slight edge in the all-time series at 26-22-7.
The last two matchups have ended in 1-1 draws as the Captains and Eagles battled to a penalty kick shootout in last season's conference tournament before ending this year's first game in the same score after 90 minutes. Playing at Captains Field on October 14, Mary Washington struck first with a goal in the eighth minute before
Barry Jones put away the game-tying strike in the 27th minute. From there, the two teams fought to a draw with sophomore goalkeeper
Hayden Dewey making a career-high 10 saves in the game.
Since then, CNU has split a pair of games with a setback at Salisbury followed by a 2-1 win at Washington and Lee. Saturday's bout will solidify conference tournament seeding for next week's event hosted by the Banana Slugs with first round action starting on Thursday, November 2. The C2C semifinals are slated for Friday, November 3 with the championship game played on Sunday, November 5.
This season, senior midfielder
Mason Field has led the way offensively with eight goals and 16 points while rookie
Drew McWhinney is not far behind with six goals and two helpers for 14 total points. Dewey is the only CNU player to start all 14 games and he has put together a strong first season starting for the Captains in the net with a 0.91 goals-against average.
Mary Washington boasts one of the top offensive units in the country ranking 30th in goals per game (2.88) and seventh in shots attempts per game (19.6). Led by All-American Josh Kirkland and Carter Berg, the Eagles are riding a nine-game unbeaten streak. CNU is one of only four teams to hold the Eagles to a goal or less in a game this season as Kirkland has poured in 11 and Berg has added eight scores.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available. Links to both can be found on the men's soccer schedule at CNUsports.com.
