SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – In a battle of what some would call David versus Goliath, the UC Santa Cruz women's soccer team stunned the No. 2 Christopher Newport Captains, breaking CNU's 84-game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 victory to claim the program's first ever Coast-to-Coast Conference Championship Crown. Fans would have to look back to Nov. 17 of 2019 to find Christopher Newport's last loss when they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Johns Hopkins University in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Captains had been nearly perfect for just short of five years until today, not facing a 2-0 deficit in any contest since their loss to JHU. The Slugs suffered a 4-2 PK decision in last year's C2C Championship and got their revenge today as Kristi Truong and Camille Anneet scored the game's only goals to lift UC Santa Cruz to the 2-0 triumph over the Captains. The contest would not have been the same without the C2C Rookie of the Year, Ainsley Gove, who recorded an astounding 11 saves in the contest to keep the Captains off the board and earn the shutout. The Title marks a historic moment for the UC Santa Cruz Athletic Department as women's soccer is now the third program to bring home a C2C Title, joining men's and women's cross country.
 
How It Happened
With the No. 1 seed Christopher Newport looking for their fourth consecutive C2C Crown, the No. 2 seed UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs stepped up for the challenge. With both teams settling in during the opening minutes of the contest, UCSC took the opening shot off the foot of Camille Anneet but the attempt went wide. CNU countered with back to back shots from Hanna Heaton, the C2C Offensive Player of the Year, but Ainsley Gove was there to make her first save of the day in the 16th minute with Heaton's first shot going wide just moments before.
 
UC Santa Cruz responded promptly, earning a corner 26 seconds after the pressure from CNU. Boyd played the corner on the ground to Susanaitzel Juarez-Mancera who touched it back to Boyd. Boyd then found Kristi Truong who took a left footed rip right off the pass from over 20 yards out and struck the back right side of the net to put UC Santa Cruz on top 1-0 with just under 30 minutes left in the half.
 
Christopher Newport attempted to respond putting two shots on goal over the next 12 minutes, but Ainsley Gove had it all covered, saving both attempts. In the 30th minute, Camille Anneet read a pass from the CNU backline perfectly, coming away with the steal before driving into the left side of the box. Anneet managed to swing a left footed shot with a defender on her hip right over the CNU goalkeeper to double the Slugs' lead, making it 2-0. CNU had the better play down the stretch of the first half as they put three more shots on frame, but Ainsley Gove saved every attempt, keeping CNU off the board to send the Slugs into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
 
The intensity picked up in the second half as Christopher Newport came out swinging, earning a corner just 1:30 into the half before putting five shots on the board with three on goal. Ainsley Gove was there to make two saves while the Slugs blocked one away to preserve the 2-0 lead and fight off the early attack in the second half from the Captains. CNU didn't slow as they continued to fight for their first goal of the day and erase the 2-0 deficit. After minutes of suffocating attack from CNU, UC Santa Cruz finally had some opportunities on the opposite end later in the half with Sydney Boyd having the best chance in the 86th minute. Boyd took a shot from way downtown that floated towards the upper 90, forcing CNU's goalkeeper to make a diving one-handed save and keep the contest at 2-0. While Christopher Newport ramped up the intensity down the stretch, the Slugs were the ones to take the game's last shot before winding down the clock to hand CNU their first loss in 85 contests, a streak that lasted one week short of five years for the Captains. Their last loss was on Nov. 17, 2019 in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament against Johns Hopkins. During CNU's 84 game unbeaten streak, Christopher Newport accumulated 201 goals to opponent's 25 goals while holding a record of 75-0-9, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. UC Santa Cruz's two goals in today's Championship serve as just the 26th and 27th goals allowed by the Captains in the last four season's while UCSC's victory is the first of any opponent CNU has faced in that 85 game stretch, giving CNU a 75-1-9 record, proving UC Santa Cruz has earned the right to be in the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer National Tournament.
 
As previously mentioned, today's victory is just the first C2C Championship Title for the program with UCSC defeating No. 2 CNU 2-0 with goals from Kristi Truong and Camille Anneet while Ainsley Gove earned the shutout with 11 saves.
 
Fans can watch the Banana Slugs hear their name get called in the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer selection show on Monday, Nov. 11 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on NCAA.com.