GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season on Friday night in a 4-2 decision at Denison University. Battling the elements throughout the contest in a rainy evening in Ohio, the Captains surrendered a pair of goals in each half and fell to 5-1-3 overall on the year.
Matt Liss and
Declan Karney each scored for the Captains with one goal in each half. CNU fell behind, 2-0, before cutting the lead in half with Liss' header in the 40th minute. Then, the Big Red added two more goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half before a late strike by Karney in the 83rd minute.
CNU outshot the home team, 14-10, including a 10-7 edge in shots on-goal. CNU also earned eight corner kicks versus just three for Denison.
In the first half, Eli Taylor scored on a pass from the goal line back into the six-yard box. Then, less than a minute later, teammate Jake Krueger went on a 50-yard dash after stealing the ball away from the CNU defense for a breakaway goal.
The Captains got on the board with just over five minutes left in the first half when
Yazan Yaghmmour played a ball through to the midfield and it ended up back on the outside to
Jason LaViola. The junior midfielder then laced a left-footed cross perfectly to the back post where Liss raced in for a header into the back of the net. It was the second goal of the season for Liss and the team-leading fifth helper for LaViola.
In the second half, the home team built a big lead with the next two goals to pull ahead, 4-1. With the minutes waning, the Captains continued to push everything forward looking to cut into the lead. After a corner, CNU kept the ball alive by playing it back across the field and Denison deflected a pass out of bounds. The ensuing long throw in reached the head of
Manzi Siibo for a flick toward the back post and rookie
Declan Karney wrapped his leg around a defender to connect with the ball first and find the back of the net.
Unfortunately, it proved too late to mount a comeback and the Captains suffered their first loss of the season. CNU will return to action on Sunday morning with a big matchup against No. 3 Kenyon College at 11:00 a.m.
