NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Christopher Newport fifth-year senior Sarah Smith tucked away her 12th career game-winning goal in the first half, moving up to fourth all-time at CNU, but the story of the NCAA Tournament opening round win over Marymount on Saturday night became an offensive explosion in the second half on route to a 7-0 rout. The Captains (17-0-2) scored three goals in a span of just over two minutes early in the second half to blow the game open and tacked on three more to advance to Sunday's second round action against McDaniel College. 

The seven goals ties the most scored by a CNU team under third-year head coach Jamie Gunderson and is the most recorded in a game by the Captains since logging 10 against Southern Virginia on October 2, 2019. Six different players scored goals in the game while leading scorer Hanna Heaton led the way with a goal and an assist for a three-point day. 

Despite only scoring one goal in the first half, the Captains dominated possession and could have easily added to the first-half ledger were it not for a half-dozen near misses including three rockets off the crossbar and two tremendous saves by the Marymount goalkeeper. CNU finally got through for the goal in the 23rd minute when Smith was in the right place at the right time off a free kick taken by Heaton. 

Heaton delivered a long pass into the box that never got off the ground. Smith blitzed in front of her defender and took a touch beyond the goalkeeper, needing to just tap in for the score, her fourth of the season. Smith tucked in the goal on the left side of the frame to get the Captains on the board. CNU took 18 total shots in the first half and had six corner kicks; six shots were on-frame and Marymount made five saves in the period. 

Coming out of the halftime break, the CNU offense continued to pressure Marymount's back line and this time, quickly got on the board. Just 2:36 into the second half, a perfectly-placed corner kick by Heaton was headed back into the goal by a Marymount defender to double the Captains lead. That goal started the clock on one of the most impressive bursts in the Captains' postseason history, as within just two minutes and 11 seconds, the lead would double again with two more scores. 

Just over a minute after the 'own goal', the Saints were whistled for a foul just outside the box on the left side. Heaton stepped up and faced a five-man wall, but beat the Marymount defense with a beautiful bender into the left pocket of the goal. The team's scoring leader now has six goals and 18 total points after factoring into each of the first three goals on Saturday. 

After the re-set, the Captains built out of the back line less than a minute later. Clare Davis wound up with the ball in the corner and looked up to see Ellie Cox camped out at the top of the box. The veteran midfielder passed to Cox who smashed a one-timer into the left side of the goal for her third tally of the season. 

Things settled in after the frenetic three-goal explosion, but it was less than five minutes later when the lead would grow to 5-0. This time, it was sophomore Katy Bronski who broke down her defender and drove into the middle with her right foot. She blistered a shot on-target that caromed off the right post and in for the score. 

The final two scores for Christopher Newport sent electricity through the bench area as junior Hannah Calliott converted on her first career goal with an excellent finish inside the box. Corinne Kulik crossed the ball into the box and it ended up bouncing high into the air; Calliott waited patiently, turned, and fired. Less than a week after helping clinch the C2C Championship a a PK shootout strike, Calliott got on the board with her first career tally. 

Finally, Courtney Ennis flexed her passing ability in the 84th minute when the outside midfielder targeted Madie Vincent inside the box some 40 yards away. The ball reached Vincent and with just one touch to her dominant foot, the veteran forward ripped a hard shot low and into the right side of the goal for the score. 

While the offense was setting off fireworks, it was another dominant day defensively for the Captains. Amy Sidaway continues to add to her record-shattering shutout streak at CNU and moving up the Division III rankings as well with 1044:58 consecutive minutes without surrendering a goal. She ranks 12th all-time and boasts the longest roll since Audra Larson (Messiah) recorded 1,055:65 scoreless minutes in a row in 2015. On Saturday, Sidaway did not face a shot in just over 73 minutes of action before giving way to Abby Ochs to finish out the 12th straight team shutout this season. 

Ochs made one save and closed out the clean sheet as Christopher Newport set a program record for shutouts in a season with 17. The defense in front of the goalkeeping tandem started with Reanna Slater, Nyah Savage, and Bella DiTommaso; by the end of the game, Kenna McCarthy played a large chunk of the game on the back line along with Jackie Stallard, who eclipsed 1,000 minutes played this season in the contest. Callie Birk helped lock down the defensive midfield for 37 minutes while Kyleigh Gough and Ellie Cox helped man the dominant defense as well. 

Slater played just 66 minutes in Saturday's win, marking the end of her tremendous run of playing 17 consecutive games of full time. 

The Captains will now focus its attention on the Green Terror of McDaniel College (12-3-5), whom they will face on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. McDaniel defeated Scranton, 1-0, in the other first-round matchup on Saturday night. It will be just the second all-time matchup between the two programs, who last played to a 0-0 draw on September 4, 2022 in the season-opening Virginia Wesleyan tournament last year.