Photo Gallery

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Christopher Newport senior Caleb Jones unleashed a missile off his right foot with just over 12 minutes remaining in the 2025 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship and the heatseeker tucked into the upper ninety to lift the top-seeded Captains to the title against #3 Salisbury University, 1-0. Jones, named the Most Valuable Player after the game, scored with 12:26 remaining and the Captains' defense held on for the shutout to secure the conference title and subsequent automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. 

Playing in front of a season-high crowd on a beautiful, bright afternoon at Captains Field, the host Captains celebrated the team's second conference championship under head coach Justin Chezem at home. It was CNU's first title since 2021 and the seventh all-time conference tournament crown including the fourth since joining the league in 2013. 

The matchup featured championship-caliber emotion and physicality throughout the contest from both sides in an evenly-matched conference final. Christopher Newport took 14 shots to Salisbury's 13 and had a 6-5 advantage in shots on-goal. Both goalkeepers made game-saving stops and both defenses stepped up in key moments, enduring dazzling offensive opportunities that just couldn't quite materialize. 

That is, until Jones' highlight-reel finish. In the 78th minute, Colin Skwirut started to build a play for Jones with a pass outside to Jack Otto. The sophomore defender, in the game because CNU starter Yazan Yaghmmour suffered an injury just one minute into the contest, played a perfect pass on two touches to Jones on the sideline. With one defender between him and the goal, Jones drove toward the corner of the box, found enough daylight and delivered an indefensible bullet into the goal for the score. 

The tally was Jones' fourth goal of the season and pushed him to the top of the scoring chart in 2025 for Christopher Newport with four goals and three assists for 11 points. In the 2025 C2C Tournament, Jones factored into all three of CNU's goals with two scores and an assist on route to earning Tournament MVP honors.

Christopher Newport started the game with a flurry, including a header by Jones that nearly found the back of the net less than a minute into the game. He added another in the 15th minute and both Drew McWhinney and Skwirut had hard attempts blocked by defenders before Joe Summerfield added a shot on-goal in the 22nd minute. Despite the early chances for CNU, it was Salisbury that had the closest opportunity in the 27th minute when CNU senior goalkeeper Hayden Dewey was challenged with a header on target. Connor Pyles received a pass while at close range in the box and Dewey had to make a reactionary save, getting his hands up and punching the ball away. 

Dewey stood tall in his home stadium, and made another key save with a diving stop in the 42nd minute. C2C Rookie of the Year David Brunetti blistered a whistling line drive low left of the cage and Dewey took one step before making a diving stop against the attempt from 25 yards out.  CNU's senior goalkeeper made five saves in the game to close out his 10th shutout of the season. 

The defense in front of Dewey played well, including a career-high 89 minutes from Otto and full-game efforts from center backs Carson Friedlein and Declan Karney. The trio of sophomores were also flanked by Ben Sullivan for 84 minutes while Josh Monzon slid back to help the back line in the few minutes Sullivan was out of the game. 

With the automatic berth in hand, the Captains now wait for the decisions of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Committee as to who they will face and where the game will be located in the first round of next weekend's tournament. A selection show and bracket announcement will be hosted on NCAA.com on Monday at 11:30 a.m.