DANVILLE, Va. — As the final horn sounded, the Cougars celebrated a monumental day as the Averett University men's lacrosse team earned its first win in program history with a 7-3 victory over the Franciscan University of Steubenville on Daly Field at Frank R. Campbell Stadium on Friday evening.

Averett (1-5) held the edge over Franciscan (0-5) in several categories, including 8-14 on faceoffs, a 56-42 edge on ground balls, 44-25 on shots and 20-14 on shots on goal. Additionally, Averett's seven goals were the most it had scored in a game in program history, while Franciscan's three goals were the fewest allowed in a game in team history.

"All credit in the world goes to my guys, my assistants," Mackin said. "It's been a long process, it's been a grind. … They believed today, and I told them a long time ago that as long as we keep getting better together and keep believing, the wins will take care of themselves if we just focus on the small battles and we certainly did that today."

The Cougars got things started with a goal from freshman Parker Corbett off an assist from sophomore Joonas Mattila with 9:22 left in the first quarter. After the Barons answered with a goal in the first, freshmen Mike Michaud and Mason Foy added goals in the second quarter to give the team a 3-1 lead at halftime, with sophomore Rafael Walker assisting on Foy's goal.

The third quarter was where Averett really pulled away, as Mattila scored off an assist from Corbett with 10:23 remaining in the third. Foy quickly added on to that with his second goal of the day off an assist from freshman Tyler Moodie. After that, freshman Ballard Earley scored what would be the team's final two goals of the day off assists from freshmen Sam Garrett and Wesley Turner, respectively, to take a 7-2 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Averett surrendered only one goal in the fourth to close out for the critical victory.

Defensively, Walker led both sides with 10 ground balls. Garrett finished just behind him with eight ground balls and a game-high seven caused turnovers. Meanwhile, sophomore Will Merritt went 8-for-14 on faceoffs for the Cougars. In goal, sophomore Jacob Shriver made 11 saves while giving up just three goals for a stellar save percentage of 78.6.

"It kind of speaks to the dedication of the guys who were here last year, the ones who didn't leave and stayed here and perservered with all of us," Shriver said. "This was the end result we knew we were going to get at some point. ... The key is to not get complacent and not be satisfied with just one win, but build off that."

It will be a quick turnaround for the Cougars as they return home on Sunday to take on Pfeiffer University at 1 p.m.