NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to five games to start the 2024 season with a 2-0 win over Rutgers-Camden (3-3-0) on Saturday afternoon, picking up the team's third win of the year. The Captains are now 3-0-2 overall after Jason LaViola and Drew McWhinney converted their first goals of the season. 

LaViola put away the game-winning goal in the 34th minute of action on a rebound that trickled right to his foot with open space in the box. The play came on a restart just outside the box on the left side where he and Matt Liss approached the free kick. Liss shuffled a grounder into the box that a defender managed to slide tackle away from the Captains attack. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Raptors, the ball squirted free to LaViola and the CNU junior unleashed a smoldering drive that ricocheted off a defender and into the back of the net. 

It was the first goal of the season for LaViola and his second career game-winning strike. 

Christopher Newport maintained the 1-0 edge into halftime after outshooting the Scarlet Raptors by a 9-3 count in the first half. The lead would double early in the second half as CNU got an insurance goal less than seven minutes into the stanza. 

In the 52nd minute, Barry Jones would collect his team-leading third assist of the season as he set McWhinney free into the box against the Rutgers-Camden defense. Patiently staying onsides until Jones loosened the defense with a back-breaking delivery through a pair of defenders, McWhinney had just the goalkeeper to beat and placed an unstoppable low liner under the sliding save attempt. 

McWhinney became the seventh different goal scorer in the first five games of the season for CNU while Jones now has 12 career assists to climb to 20 points in his third year as a Captain. 

Hayden Dewey made three saves in the contest to secure his second solo shutout of the season. He and the rest of the Captains defense, led by Asher Kuzemka and Declan Karney, held the Scarlet Raptors to just seven total attempts including three on-net. 

Christopher Newport will return to action on Sunday afternoon as they welcome Catholic University (2-3-0) for a 2:00 pm kickoff.