Men’s soccer continues success against Shenandoah

Early last Wednesday, Christopher Newport University was named the 1st ranked team in the South Atlantic Region in the NCAA’s first batch of Regional Rankings.

Later that evening, the Captains proved that they were deserving of the ranking, taking down conference foe Shenandoah University 4-0.

Coming into the contest, senior forward Steven Farmer had scored two goals the entire season. Within the first 20 minutes of play, he equaled that output. The first goal came 4:58 into the first half, as Farmer beat Hornets’ goalie Anthony Light with a shot that rolled into the back of the net.

Junior midfielder Michael Breske, a transfer from Virginia Tech, stretched the Captains’ lead to 2-0 a little over 10 minutes later. Breske’s first shot was stopped by Light, but he corralled his own rebound and finished the job on his second attempt. It was his second goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Farmer was at it again. The Poquoson native controlled a pass by senior midfielder Brian Lybert and carried the ball deep into the box. Light stormed wildly out of the net, but Farmer remained composed and chipped the ball softly over Light’s head and just inside the right post. Light pounded the ground in frustration, realizing that he had just put his team in a 3-0 hole against the 2nd ranked team in the nation.

The Hornets never came close to overcoming the deficit.

With 10 minutes remaining, the sky opened up and unleashed a deluge on Captains Field. As fans scrambled out of the bleachers and raced to their cars, freshman midfielder Alec Faulkner weathered the downpour and added an insurance goal. It was the final score of the game for CNU and Faulkner’s third of the year.

Justin Wolfe had yet another uneventful night between the pipes, thanks mostly to the stellar play of the Captains defense, which kept the Shenandoah attackers far away from the senior goaltender for most of the contest. The visitors from Winchester finished the night with two shots, neither of which were on net. The Captains, on the other hand, tallied 28.

Wolfe has not allowed a goal since Oct. 5 and the shutout was his seventh of the season. He has allowed only eight goals all year and is on pace to break the school record of 14 for fewest goals allowed in a season.

Lybert and junior forward Andrew Bonorden each added an assist for the Captains. Lybert also had four shots on goal, a team high, followed by Farmer with three and Breske with two.

With the victory, the Captains improve their record to 13-0-1 with two regular season games remaining. They will host the University of Mary Washington this Wednesday on Captains Field, before traveling to Greensboro to take on the Pride in the season finale.

If the Captains win both match ups, they will be the first team in CNU soccer history to finish the regular season undefeated.

Posted by Mike Schoeffel on Oct 26 2011. Filed under Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.