Tournament Website Hosted by Mary Washington ||
Tournament Website Hosted by C2C
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- After earning the #2 seed in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship, the Christopher Newport Captains will take on #3-seeded UC Santa Cruz (6-1-9) in the semifinal round of the tournament on Friday. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. and will be played on a neutral field as the championship is hosted by the University of Mary Washington with two semifinal matchups on Friday and a title bout set for Sunday.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for all three games from Fredericksburg, for fans unable to attend in person. Fans attending should be aware that tickets for each day are $10 -- cash or credit is accepted. Games will be played at the Battleground Outdoor Complex with semifinal game times set for 11:00 am (#1 Mary Washington vs. #4 Salisbury) and 2:00 pm (#2 CNU vs. #3 UC Santa Cruz). The advancing teams will play at Noon on Sunday for the conference championship.
The games will be played under NCAA postseason play rules. If the score is tied at the end of regulation, the two teams will face off in a golden-goal overtime session that includes a maximum of two 10-minute periods. Following overtime, if the score remains tied, a penalty kick shootout will determine the advancing team.
It will be the third matchup all-time between the Captains and Banana Slugs after CNU captured a 2-1 overtime win in the 2021 C2C Semifinals and a 5-0 victory in a regular season matchup last season. It will be the second time the two teams have matched up at the Battleground Complex after the 2021 tournament matchup.
This season, Christopher Newport is 5-6-5 overall while facing the toughest schedule in the nation according to the NCAA rankings. The Captains were ranked as high as No. 8 in Division III this year after starting the season with an unbeaten record through the first eight games. At the end of the regular season, sophomore
Manzi Siibo was leading the team in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist.
Jason LaViola is not behind as the senior has scored seven points on one goal and five assists this year.
Defensively, junior
Asher Kuzemka holds down one of the center back positions while C2C Rookie of the Year
Declan Karney has started all 16 games in the other spot.
Yazan Yaghmmour has also been one of the anchors defensively, starting 15 games.
UC Santa Cruz comes into the semifinal matchup with just one loss this season, which came at the hands of Division II UC Merced. The Banana Slugs have won two of their last three with a 0-0 draw at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to close out the regular season last Saturday. First team All-Conference picks Nico Herrera-Land and Max Beldner led the way for UC Santa Cruz this season as Herrera-Land led the Slugs with four goals and two assists while Beldner scored a pair of goals while helping lock down the team's defense.
Christopher Newport will be playing for the seventh conference championship in program history and fourth since joining the league in 2013-14. CNU won titles in 2014 and 2016 under the former Capital Athletic Conference and in 2021 in the Coast-To-Coast Atheltic Conference.
