NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team took the first nine shots in the game and nearly converted on three chances in the first ten minutes, but Washington and Lee weathered the storm and scored three times in the second half to defeat the Captains by a final score of 3-0.
Christopher Newport falls to 5-3-3 after the setback, which marks the first home loss of the year and the first at Captains Field since November 13, 2022. In fact, the result is just the third home loss in the five-season tenure of head coach
Justin Chezem, who has guided CNU to an impressive 34-3-11 record at Captains Field for a winning percentage of over 82 percent.
The Captains were in control early and outshot the visiting team in the first half by a count of 9-2. Of those nine attempts, CNU put five on frame but the Washington and Lee keeper, Will Joseph, managed to stop four of them. In the eighth minute,
Drew McWhinney had a shot on target that was cleared off the line by a defender, adding a fifth save to the ledger for the Generals.
In the first eight minutes, the Captains got on target attempts from
Mason Field,
Caleb Jones, and McWhinney.
Jason LaViola added a shot on-goal off a free kick in the 15th minute and then took another shot in the 26th minute that was stopped.
CNU appeared to have the momentum until early in the second half when the Generals scored three goals in under six minutes against the Captains defense. Weyimi Agbeyegbe had two assists and then added a goal of his own to build the lead less than 15 minutes into the second half. After the surge, the Captains could not get anything going offensively, with just four more attempts from the field. Late in the game,
Carson Grove looked to put CNU on the board with a close-range bullet, but Joseph picked up his fifth and final save of the evening to close out the shutout.
Hayden Dewey played over 77 minutes in goal for the Captains and made one save.
Aidan O'Mahony finished out the game in the final 12:41 and also made a save for CNU in goal.
Washington and Lee improved to 7-3-1 with the win. Christopher Newport will return to action this Saturday, October 12 as they travel to No. 1 Mary Washington for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff against the Eagles.
