VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Three Christopher Newport men's soccer players were listed among the honored student-athletes in a release by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) today, announcing the College Division All-State Teams. Two-time selections Davis Pillow and Will Collins were honored alongside fellow senior Cory Hogge, earning his first career VaSID All-State recognition. 

Pillow was named a first team All-State defender while Collins (F) and Hogge (MF) each collected second team All-State plaudits. Pillow and Collins were each second team All-State honorees in 2019 when they picked up their first career certificate. The first-team selection for the Captain's center back continues a run of 25 straight years in which CNU has had at least one player picked to the first team. It is also the 22nd consecutive season in which Christopher Newport has had multiple players recognized as All-State caliber. 

Named the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Davis Pillow completed his career as one of the top defenders in program history with another standout season in 2021. He earned second team All-Region honors from the United Soccer Coaches and was a first team All-Conference selection. CNU notched six shutouts with a goals-against average of 1.07 this season while holding opponents to just 8.7 shots per game. With Pillow manning the back line over the last four seasons, Christopher Newport posted 27 clean sheets with a GAA of 0.886. 

Also an All-Region selection in 2021 was forward Will Collins, collecting a third team certificate after leading the nationally-ranked Captains offense this season. He earned second team All-State accolades after putting together a strong offensive season with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. In NCAA Tournament play, Collins scored three goals and added an assist to lead the team to three wins in postseason action. In three years wearing the Royal Blue and Silver, Collins finished with 34 career points with 13 goals and eight assists. 

Rounding out the 2021 All-State selections was senior midfielder Cory Hogge after an outstanding punctuation mark to his career as an outside winger. Hogge started all 19 games and caught fire at the end of the season with assists in three of the last four games of the year. His performance in the postseason helped propel Christopher Newport into the Round of 16 and would carry into the matchup against No. 1 Washington & Lee where he scored a game-tying goal and assisted on CNU's other tally against the Generals. Over the course of the season, Hogge scored four goals and added five helpers for 13 points to rank second on the team. 

Aided by the exceptional contributions of the three All-State performers, Christopher Newport finished the season with a 12-5-2 overall record and advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history. The Captains advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2014 and finished the season ranked No. 11 in the nation. 

 

1st Team
Jack Rawlins	Defender	Wash. & Lee
Joey Daly	Defender	Lynchburg
Davis Pillow	Defender	CNU
Evan Blow	Forward	Randolph
Luke Mega	Forward	Lynchburg
Adrian Zimmerman	Forward	Wash. & Lee
Samuel Bass	Midfielder	Wash. & Lee
Michael Kutsanzira	Midfielder	Wash. & Lee
Bhayle Kearns	Midfielder	Lynchburg
Griffin Potter	Goalkeeper	Virginia Wesleyan
Zach Behe	At Large - Goalkeeper	Roanoke
2nd Team
Joe Carman	Defender	Roanoke
Elijah Lloyd	Defender	Randolph-Macon
Seth Chapman	Defender	Wash. & Lee
Leonardo Torres	Forward	Marymount
Will Collins	Forward	CNU
Josh Kirkland	Forward	Mary Wash
Noah Carney	Midfielder	Randolph
Cory Hogge	Midfielder	CNU
Alex Moody	Midfielder	Virginia Wesleyan
Ken Kurtz	Goalkeeper	Mary Wash
Weyimi Agbeyegbe	At-Large - Midfielder	Wash. & Lee
Coach of the Year:	Mike Singleton	Wash. & Lee
Defensive Player of the Year:	Griffin Potter	Virginia Wesleyan
Offensive Player of the Year:	Evan Blow	Randolph
Rookie of the Year:	Leonardo Torres	Marymount