NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Picking up the first win of the season, the Christopher Newport men's soccer team withstood a late rally by William Paterson University (1-1-1) to capture a 2-1 victory on a balmy Saturday night at Captains Field. Rookie Tim McGuire blasted home his first career goal in the 41st minute to provide the Captains with an ever-important insurance goal that would hold up as the gamewinner. 

With the win, Christopher Newport improves to 1-0-2 on the season. CNU scored twice, with sophomore defender Carson Friedlein adding the first tally for the Captains in the 26th minute of play. 

Friedlein started on the back line with Declan Karney, Josh Monzon, and Yazan Yaghmmour and helped the Captains hold William Paterson to just four first-half shots and one on frame. Hayden Dewey made the save on the first attempt against the Pioneers in the 19th minute when he snagged a chest-high bender from outside the box. 

The field tipped in favor of the Captains for the next stretch of the game and resulted in the first goal of the game. Junior midfielder Colin Skwirut found himself open at the top of the box for a blazing line drive that deflected off a defender wide right of the goal. On the resulting corner kick, Skwirut lofted a well-placed ball into the box that the defense attempted to clear; it landed at the foot of rookie Ethan Arnolds, who swung toward goal and his shot was re-directed away from the sliding keeper by Friedlein. 

The goal by Friedlein was the first of his career while Arnolds earned his first career assist. 

In the last five minutes of the first half, the second goal came courtesy of a tremendous run by Yaghmmour. After receiving a pass from Karney on the Captains' side of the field near the sideline, the junior from Haymarket, Virginia put on a clinic working his way up field. He drove by the first defender and sprinted into the William Paterson half; while pressed to the line again by a second defender, he used a nifty touch with the outside of his foot to breeze by another. With no one left to beat, Yaghmmour took one more touch before centering a pass into the box that split two more defenders and found McGuire for the finishing touch, smashing home the one-timer for the score. 

The Captains nearly put the the game out of reach with a third score early in the second half, but a nice play by the Pioneers goalkeeper stopped Ryan Buckon from converting. He got loose in the 60th minute of action on a pass over the defense and his shot in the box was stopped by the sliding keeper. 

Minutes later, William Paterson cut the lead in half on a long throw by Niko Pierce. On a throw into the box, Patrick Kudron passed back across and Delvin Nketia connected on a spinning shot.

The defense was stretched with Diego Torres, Ben Sullivan, and Asher Kuzemka all checking on for injured players on the back line. Karney and Kuzemka, the center of last year's back line, helped settle the defense with all the moving parts, and repeatedly stopped the mounting Pioneers attack. Miles Maggioncalda also played a big role in the final 20 minutes of action as the CNU defense stepped up. 

Weathering six shots in the second half, the Captains defense held on for the win. Dewey made another save after halftime and finished with two stops on three shots on-goal. 

Christopher Newport will return to action on Sunday afternoon against Redlands at 2:00 p.m.