FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Leaning on its vaunted defense for 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the top-ranked Christopher Newport women's soccer team played its way into a penalty kick shootout in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Game on Sunday afternoon and came away victorious with a 4-2 shootout win. The Captains took down second-seeded UC Santa Cruz (11-5-3) to capture the program's third straight conference title and earned the league's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament. 

The Captains were crowned league champions for the third consecutive season and the sixth time in the last seven years. Head coach Jamie Gunderson has been a part of all six with the first three as an assistant coach and the last coming in his first three years as the Captains' helmsman. He and the Captains will enter the postseason tournament with a 62-game unbeaten streak ranking as the second longest in Division III history. 

On Sunday, Christopher Newport was challenged in a physical matchup that saw the Captains outshot for the first time this season. The Banana Slugs took 13 total attempts, including six on goal, while CNU mustered a season-low eight attempts with just two on frame. 

With the offense stalled, it was one of the nation's leading defense that stood up to the task as rookie goalkeeper Amy Sidaway made a career-high six saves and held the Banana Slugs off the board. In front of her, the back line consisted of Bella DiTommaso, Kyleigh Gough, Nyah Savage, and Reanna Slater locking down another shutout for the Captains.

By blanking UC Santa Cruz, the Captains tied the program record for clean sheets in a season with 16 while doing so in just 18 games. The C2C Defensive Player of the Year, Slater, and C2C Rookie of the Year, Sidaway, have been key cogs in the Captains' dominant defensive run that has seen them put together 11 consecutive shutouts and obliterate the program record for consecutive shutout minutes. The scoreless roll eclipsed 1,000 minutes on Sunday while Sidaway has now been between the pipes for 971:49 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal, ranking as the 16th longest such streak in NCAA Division III history. Meanwhile Slater has not left the field during the streak and played a complete game alongside Savage and Gough on the back line. 

After the match ended in a scoreless draw, the championship would be decided in a penalty kick shootout. As if Sidaway had not done enough in her first year, her first chance at clinching a title would go directly through her as she faced the Banana Slugs PK attempts. The first chance by UC Santa Cruz sailed wide right of the goal and the Captains took the lead when Hanna Heaton, who also played all 110 minutes, delivered a solid strike to take a 1-0 lead. 

UC Santa Cruz knotted the shootout momentarily with a goal, but Slater stepped up on the second chance for the Captains to retake a 2-1 lead. In the third round, the Banana Slugs tied things up again, but only for a moment as the dramatic finish took shape through a pair of players who had not yet been on the pitch in the championship match.

After two players who logged a full 110 minutes scored for the Captains, it would be junior Hannah Calliott and senior Callie Birk coming through in their moment off the bench to attempt to win it on the next two tries. First, Calliott stepped in and powered home her shot before Santa Cruz sailed their fourth attempt high. That would bring up Birk, the senior from Louisville, Kentucky, for just her third appearance of the season. Confidently, the veteran forward whipped a shot into the back of the net and clinched the 2023 title for the Captains, sending her team into the NCAA tournament. 

It stands as the first penalty kick shootout win for the Captains since 2006 when the team clinched the USA South Championship following a 2-2 draw against Methodist. It is also only the second PK shootout win in six all-time shootout appearances. 

For their efforts in the 2023 C2C Championship, four Captains were named to the C2C All-Tournament team. Sidaway was named the tournament MVP while Ellie Cox, Hanna Heaton, and Nyah Savage each collected All-Tournament honors. 

With the 0-0 tie, the Captains are now 16-0-2 on the season and awaits the decision of the NCAA Championship Committee for location and opponent for next week's first round action. The selection show will be aired live on NCAA.com at 1:30 pm on Monday afternoon.