NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Over the next four days, Captains Field will play host to five postseason tournament games as the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team welcomes in the field for the 2025 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship. On Thursday, the quarterfinal round will be played at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. followed by the semifinals at the same time on Friday. The 2025 C2C Championship is set for 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Christopher Newport, ranked No. 22 in the nation, is the top seed in the C2C Tournament and Mary Washington also earned a first-round bye as the #2 seed. They await the winners of Thursday's quarterfinal round -- #4 UC Santa Cruz vs. #5 JWU Charlotte at 4 pm and #3 Salisbury vs. #6 Warren Wilson at 7 pm. CNU will take on the winner of the first game on Friday at 4 pm followed by the Eagles taking on the winner of the Salisbury/Warren Wilson matchup at 7 pm.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for all five games at CNUsports.com. Links can be found on the men's soccer schedule at CNUsports.com or on the
C2C Championship Website located here.
Mary Washington captured the 2024 C2C Championship in overtime against Christopher Newport. The Eagles have won three conference crowns in a row with the last team to earn the league title being the host Captains in 2021. Mary Washington has reached the conference championship game in each season since 2015.
The Captains (10-2-5) is hosting the postseason tournament for the first time since 2019 and will be looking to secure the team's fourth conference championship since joining the league in 2013. CNU has won all six conference tournament titles in program history since 2009.
This season, head coach
Justin Chezem and his assistants were named the C2C Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Captains to the top seed in the postseason tournament. Two CNU players earned first team All-Conference honors in senior midfielder
Barry Jones and sophomore defender
Carson Friedlein. Friedlein leads a dominant CNU defense that leads the league with a 0.765 goals-against average that ranks in the top-40 nationally.
In addition to Friedlein, the CNU defense saw
Declan Karney and
Yazan Yaghmmour earn All-Conference honors alongside senior goalkeeper
Hayden Dewey. Dewey leads the C2C in shutouts with eight, goals-against average (0.75), and ranks second in save percentage (0.800).
Looking ahead to Friday's opponent, the Captains will either play #4 UC Santa Cruz or #5 Johnson & Wales - Charlotte. It would be the first ever matchup against JWU-Charlotte should they advance; against UC Santa Cruz, Christopher Newport owns a 3-0-0 all-time advantage in the series. That includes two semifinal matchups against the Banana Slugs in 2021 and 2024, both played in Fredericksburg at Mary Washington.
This season, JWU-Charlotte is playing in its first ever C2C Championship Tournament after posting a 10-6-3 overall record in 2025. The Wildcats are riding a four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak heading into the postseason while being led by Niklas Seguin with 22 points (10g, 2a). Eugenio de la Parra Polina has also added double figure scoring for the Wildcats with 10 points (3g, 4a).
UC Santa Cruz travels across the country to appear in the C2C Championship for the fifth consecutive year. The Banana Slugs are 9-6-1 overall this season including and have won five of the last six games heading into the postseason. Soren Groessl leads the offense with 18 points on eight goals and two assists this season while the defense has been impressive allowing just 14 goals in 16 games played this year for a 0.88 goals-against average.
Following Friday's semifinal round, the two victorious teams will advance to Sunday morning's championship game. The conference champion will earn the automatic berth from the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference into the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship.
