NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Taking on Moravian University (1-1-0) in the season opener on a balmy night at Captains Field, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's soccer team scored five straight goals to pull away for a dominant win, 5-1. The Captains took advantage of a man-up situation for over 56 minutes of action and scored five unanswered against the Greyhounds.
Senior
Riley Usher notched a game-winning brace in the first half, including the penalty kick on the red card in the 34th minute of play. He added a second tally less than ten minutes ater when he finished into the left pocket after a deflection by a defender on
Drew McWhinney's first shot. The goal held up as the gamewinner as CNU poured it on with three second-half goals.
The senior class did the heavy lifting for the offensive performance as seven registered at least a point in the game. Four different seniors scored in the game for the Captains as Usher was followed by
Yazan Yaghmmour,
Manzi Siibo, and
Evan Rupe in the goal-scoring column. McWhinney and
Colin Skwirut each added helpers to lead the impressive season-opening effort.
Despite the final score, it was Moravian who jumped out to the early lead with a goal in the 21st minute as Joey Roth notched a first shot saved by CNU senior goalkeeper
Matt Yates but the follow by Enzo Petruzzelli got the Greyhounds on the board first.
Unfazed by the early deficit, the Captains pressured Moravian repeatedly after the goal. The equalizer came from the penalty spot after the last Greyhounds defender fouled the Captains' attacker in the box in the 34th minute. Usher stepped in and delivered the first goal of the season with a picture-perfect shot from the spot.
After the eventual game-winning goal ten minutes later, the Captains took an 11-5 shot advantage into the halftime break and added 13 more attempts from the field in the second half.
CNU scored back-to-back goals in the 59th and 60th minutes to double their goal count. The first came when Skwirut lofted a corner kick pass into the box and Yaghmmour, a 6-2 defender, elevated above the Moravian defense and powered home a header for the score. The second score was moments later as
Alex Stell worked for a 50-50 challenge in the box, but had it poked away. Siibo was the beneficiary of the fortuitous bounce and raced to the loose ball in the box. Wasting no time, the veteran slipped a left-footed shot into the right side of the netting for the score.
Holding onto a hefty lead, the Captains pressed forward for more and in the 82nd minute, junior
Ryan Buckon connected with Rupe for the final tally of the evening. Holding onto the ball near the goal line, Buckon slid a pass back toward the top of the six where Rupe was waiting for the short shot in.
Defensively, the Captains were led by Yates in goal with six saves in just over 80 minutes of work between the pipes. Transfer
Henry Houser added one save in the final ten minutes of action as CNU surrendered just one goal on eight shots on target.
Twenty-eight CNU players saw action in the win with
Carson Friedlein and
Jackson Carlyon leading the way on the defensive back line. Rookie
Azarya Mickael also picked up his first career start in the win.
Christopher Newport will return to action on Sunday, Setember 6 at 1:30 p.m. against Kean University.
