SALISBURY, Md. -- In a pivotal matchup on the road Tuesday afternoon, the Christopher Newport men's soccer team secured a 1-0 victory against Salisbury University (12-2-3) behind a late goal by senior midfielder
Michael Hackworth. The Captains improved to 9-2-2 on the season while picking up the sixth shutout of the 2026 campaign.
The game, which held paramount importance in the NPI race for postseason positioning, featured two of the nation's top defensive units slugging it out for 90 minutes. Offensive opportunities were limited on both sides with just six total shots on-goal combined between the two teams. For the Captains, the back line got 90-minute efforts from
Carson Friedlein,
Jackson Carlyon, and
Yazan Yaghmmour while also featuring an 81-minute showing from
Declan Karney.
One of the fulcrum points of the game came from a tremendous defensive play by the aforementioned back line when Salisbury looked to take the lead in the first half. In the 27th minute, the Sea Gulls mounted an offensive run with a long pass out of the midfield into the box. CNU goalkeeper
Matt Yates came off his line to make a play on the ball but Salisbury's Noah Blankensop got to the ball first and had an open goal in front of him. He ripped a hard shot, but Carlyon just intercepted the shot with a block to keep Salisbury off the scoreboard.
Minutes earlier, it was CNU taking advantage of a corner kick counter attack when senior
Drew McWhinney embarked on a near coast-to-coast solo run by the Salisbury defense. McWhinney laid off a beautiful lead pass to
Josh Monzon on the right side and the junior revved up to unleash a big shot, but, like Carlyon, a Salisbury defender ranged back just in the nick of time to block the shot attempt by CNU on the run.
Moments like these continued throughout the contest with the defensive units getting the best of the attacking players. That is, until the 80th minute when
Michael Hackworth took matters into his own hands and carved up the Sea Gulls defense before a meticulously placed shot ended up in the upper 90 of the Salisbury goal.
Playing a man up after Salisbury suffered a disqualification in the 76th minute, the Captains quickly took advantage with an offensive shift. Yaghmmour started the play by splitting a pair of defenders in the middle of the pitch before finding Hackworth on the right side. The senior midfielder drove right at a defender in front of him and then touched by a slide tackle by another Sea Gull defender about 25 yards away from the goal. Hackworth then slipped a pass back across the field to Yaghmmour, who quickly switched back through
Alex Stell and back to Hackworth. This time, the Yorktown native started with his back to the goal before spinning around and drawing a second defender at the top of the 18; a quick stop on the ball forced a hesitation from the defenders and opened a window just big enough for Hackworth to turn and fire a spot-on bullet into the netting from 20 yards out.
The goal was Hackworth's third of the season and lifted CNU to a 1-0 advantage with just ten minutes left to play. The CNU defense stood tall in the final ten minutes as Salisbury fired everything forward. Yates made a game-saving stop with just under seven minutes left when one of the Sea Gulls top goal scorers, David Brunetti, found a loose ball at his feet from point blank range in the middle of the box. Brunetti smashed a rocket toward the right side, but Yates stoned the attempt to clear away the opportunity.
Yates finished with three saves in the game while facing 11 total shots.
Christopher Newport will now look ahead to postseason action with their next game yet to be determined. Stay tuned to CNUsports.com for updates.
