This Sunday, the CNU Women’s soccer team defended their Coast-to-Coast Conference championship title with their 1-0 defeat of Mary Washington. With this win, they remain undefeated with a 16-0-2 record going into the NCAA Tournament. They also currently hold the longest active streak in NCAA soccer with a consecutive streak of 41 games without a loss since the start of 2021. 

On Friday, the Captains defeated Salisbury 3-1 in the semi-finals in order to advance to the championship game. During this game, senior Jill Mcdonald made history as the first CNU defender to score two goals in a tournament game since the Captains joined the C2C in 2013. She’s only the second to ever do it after Hillary Canary’s hat trick in 2004. 

The two teams went back and forth between goals in the beginning of the first half until Mcdonald’s penalty kick put the Captains up by one. The score remained 1-0 all the way into the second half. They continued to fight for their lead while the defense held Salisbury from scoring. Then, Freshman Katie Eissenberg sent the ball straight to Junior Corrine Kulik who scored the goal that would double the Captain’s lead 2-0. 

Later, Salisbury would score, putting the Captain’s lead to 2-1. This was only the seventh goal the CNU’s defense had allowed this season and the Captains responded quickly with a corner kick header by Mcdonald. The game ended with a final score of 3-1 sending the Captains straight to the championships to play Mary Washington. 

The game Sunday remained tied 0-0 all the way into the second half where fifth year Emily Talotta scored her first goal of the season. Assisted by another fifth year Abby Harrington, Talotta broke through Mary Washignton’s defense to kick a left-footed bender into the goal. 

After that goal, CNU’s defense needed to hold for 22 minutes in order to claim their fifth overall conference title and although Mary Washington fought hard, the Captains managed to hold their lead with Sophomore goalie, Jaya Daniel making three saves.  

After leading a defense that only allowed one goal in two postseason games and her impressive showing against Salisbury, Mcdonald was named C2C Tournament MVP. Mcdonald, Talotta, Kulik, and Sophomore Ellie Cox also made the All-Tournament Team.  

The Captains will go on to play John Jay in the first round of the NCAA DIII Women’s Soccer Tournament at Montclair State University on November 12th. Time is still to be determined.