Christopher Newport University’s women’s soccer players were the guests of honor on stage with school president Paul Trible and his family on Sunday at the Lighting of the Lawn — the annual illumination of Christmas trees on the Great Lawn.
The honor was fitting little more than 24 hours after the Captains won the school’s first NCAA team title in more than 23 years by beating The College of New Jersey 2-0 in the Division III national championship game in Greensboro, North Carolina. However, Captains’ star Riley Cook says the appreciation goes both ways.
“The school is very supportive, whether you’re in a club, in Greek life or in athletics,” said Cook, who scored one goal and assisted on another in the championship game. “President Trible and all of the faculty do a really great job of making this community home, so bringing the national championship back and sharing this moment was really special.”
Cook’s statement speaks volumes about the success common to many sports at CNU — which has seen senior classes in five sports reach a Division III Final Four in the past 20 years — but particularly women’s soccer. Captains’ coach Jamie Gunderson says the combination of attractive academics, social life and athletics makes it easy to recruit quality players close to home.
The result for the Captains, who finished 22-0-1 this season, has been five consecutive NCAA tournament berths and two Final Fours in the past four seasons.
“Club soccer in Virginia is very good and we have a strong network with the coaches,” said Gunderson, who completed his first season as CNU women’s head coach after almost a decade as an assistant in the program. “We’ve set increasingly high standards and do our homework recruiting.
“The coaches trust us when they send a player to CNU. They know what those players are getting.”
Those standards have much to do with work ethic. Gunderson and Cook say the Captains’ work ethic was most evident during height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when they did not play a game and faced restrictions how many could practice together and even on ball usage in groups.
“There were a lot of days we just ran, but the players never complained once,” Gunderson said.
Often, Cook says, they ran the infamous “Campus Loop,” the 2.2 miles covering the perimeter of CNU. Cook says the work the Captains put in, and the camaraderie they built during those runs, set the stage for the national championship season.
“It was hard in that moment,” Cook said. “But you’d look at that girl on your left, then look at the girl on your right and think, `I’m running for that girl and playing for that girl.’
“That created a special bond and I think this team became closer than we’ve ever been. That’s why we did so well and went so far this season.”
The numbers, offensively and defensively, bear that out. The Captains allowed just seven goals and notched 16 shutouts in 23 games, blanking Loras (1-0) in the national semifinal before doing the same to TCNJ.
“I don’t think the defense gets the credit they deserve,” Gunderson said of goalkeeper Haley Eiser and backs Jill McDonald, Re Slater, Nyah Savage and Sara Rhiel.
That’s almost inevitable because Cook’s brilliance casts such a large shadow. Among her 90 career goals, the penultimate one, in sudden-death overtime of the win over Loras, set an NCAA record at any level for game-winning goals in men’s and women’s soccer.
Typically humble, Cook credited Emma Ricci for her “amazing run down the line” and “perfect pass.” Cook said those golden goal moments are “tough but really special” and that the momentum from it carried over to the championship game.
“When I walked out onto the field, I could sense every girl was ready to play,” she said. “We dominated.”
Norfolk Collegiate graduate Sarah Smith volleyed in the opening goal off Cook’s corner kick 18 minutes in. Cook slotted in a penalty kick after 66 minutes when Ricci was taken down in the box after another of her long runs.
The defense was again impenetrable as CNU earned a 13th national title, its first as a team in something other than women’s track and field.
“I hope after 23 years this opens the door for other teams at CNU to win national championships,” Gunderson said. “For the girls to put in the work they did, and bring this back home, I’m so proud.”
Marty O’Brien, 757-247-4963, mjobrien@dailypress.com
