BUENA VISTA, Va. -- With a dominant offensive showing on the road, the 14th-ranked Christopher Newport women's soccer team got back in the win column on Tuesday night with a 1-0 victory at Southern Virginia University (5-5-1). The Captains took 33 shots, the most since game one of the season, and put 12 on frame including the game-winning goal from sophomore Ellie Diehl in the 79th minute. 

The Captains, who are now ranked No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches Division III Top 25 poll, improved to 9-1-2 overall this season with the eighth shutout of the year. 

Christopher Newport finished out the impressive overall performance by outshooting the Knights, 33-3, including a 12-1 advantage in shots on-goal. CNU ratcheted up the pace in the second half, outshooting the home team by a 22-3 count after the intermission. 

The game-winning strike would come late in the game when sophomore Ellie Diehl became the tenth different goal scorer of the season for Christopher Newport. After a throw-in by Southern Virginia, Addy Hennessy intercepted the pass and turned back to pass to sophomore Avery Spell. With time, Spell surveyed the field and played a long pass to the opposite side of the field for Bella Ventimiglia, who had one defender to beat. 

The junior midfielder blitzed by the final defender and created enough space to center a pass into the box where a few CNU players waited for a chance to score. It was Diehl who cut off her defender and crashed into the Ventimiglia pass right in front of the Southern Virginia goal for the game's lone score. It was Ventimiglia's second assist of the season and Diehl's second career goal. 

Christopher Newport challenged the SVU goalkeepers throughout the match. In the 19th minute, Hanna Heaton played a beautiful through ball up the middle for Lexi Hazelgrove, who got to the ball at the same time as the keeper and could not get through the contact as Southern Virginia evaded the chance. 

Alex Dalakis ripped a hard shot from the top of the box with just a few minutes left in the first half, but again the SVU keeper kept the Captains off the board. Early in the second half, Hazelgrove had a close-range shot sail high and Kyleigh Gough was turned away on a corner kick chance that nearly found the back of the net. 

Hazelgrove led the barrage toward the net, taking a third of CNU's 33 attempts with a career-high 11 shots. Katy Bronski and Heaton each added four shots apiece while Diehl and Gough chipped in three. Molly Seventko, Spell, and Bella DiTommaso also had multiple attempts with two shots including three on target. 

Defensively, junior Amy SIdaway needed to make just one save against the Knights to wrap up another clean sheet in goal. She secured her 29th career shutout with DiTommaso and Hennessy playing a full 90 minutes on the back line in front of her. 

The road win is the only action of the week for CNU and the Captains will be back on the field in just over a week at home against Virginia Wesleyan University. Christopher Newport takes on the cross-water rivals on Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m.