COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team is set to play away from home for the first time in 2023 this weekend as they flew to Colorado for a pair of games against UC Santa Cruz (2-3-1) and Colorad College (3-2-1). The Captains are 4-0-1 this season heading into the road trip after earning a 1-1 draw against William Peace in their last game of a six-game homestand to start the season.
Heading into the Mountain Daylight Time zone, the Captains will kick off at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and 11:00 a.m. locally in both matchups this weekend. First up, CNU will take on Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference foe UC Santa Cruz for just the second time after earning a 2-1 overtime win against the Banana Slugs in 2021. That matchup will be played Friday morning on the Colorado College campus in a neutral site bout.
CNU will then take on the host Tigers for the first time in program history on Saturday, September 23. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for both games, delivered by the Colorado College Department of Athletics with links on the Men's Soccer schedule at CNUsports.com.
The Captains have scored at least one goal in each of their first five games this season, led by senior midfielder
Mason Field. Field notched his fourth goal of the year against William Peace with his second penalty kick strike of the season and currently paces the Captains with eight points on 12 shots. Rookie
Drew McWhinney has added a pair of goals while
Luke Peri and
Trevor Smith each have one apiece.
Despite battling injuries on the back line, the Captains' defense has been strong so far this season with
Kyle Stenzel leading the charge as a center back and
Jacob Dudley on the outside. The fifth-year seniors are the only two players to start all five games this season and are subsequently leading the squad in minutes played with over 400 out of a total 450 logged by CNU players this season.
Jonathon Leiding,
Jonah Fitz, and
Ryan Kiely have also been consistent faces for the Captains' back line while rookies
Yazan Yaghmmour and
Ben Stefanon have played their way into big minutes already.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Hayden Dewey has played all 450 minutes between the pipes for the Captains making 17 saves on 35 shots faced. He has allowed four goals for a 0.80 goals-against average while posting an .810 save percentage so far.
CNU will face a UC Santa Cruz squad that earned wins against Division III opponents Pacific University and Whitworth before a 1-1 tie at the Academy of Art and one-goal loss versus Cal State East Bay, a pair of Division II foes. The Banana Slugs also opened their season with tough battles at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands, dropping both games by just one goal. Tyler Allred and Torin Volkamer lead the way with five points apiece so far this season.
Colorado College is looking to bounce back after a loss at UT Dallas, 2-1, ending a four-match unbeaten streak that included a 1-1 draw at nationally-ranked Ohio Northern. The Tigers have scored 12 goals, averaging 2.00 per game, while pressuring opponents with over 15 shots per contest. Oliver Ramirez leads the team with seven points on two goals and three assists so far.
After the flight back from the Centennial State, the Captains will have a week off before traveling to Stockton University on Sunday, October 1.
