BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College men's lacrosse team cruised to victory in their 2018 season opener, beating first year program Averett 25-2.

Two rookies- Phelan Burns (4g, 2a) and Hunter Becker (3g, 3a) led the way with six points each. Freshmen Eric Husselbaugh (3g, 2a) and Joey Tabak (1g, 4a) added five points each, as six different newcomers scored goals.

Vincent Foti had a goal and three assists, and Corey Portell and Taylor Phipps each contributed two goals and an assist. Freshman Kyle Graham scored twice, and classmate Joshua Anderson dished out two helpers.

Bridgewater won 26-of-30 faceoffs, led by rookie Daniel Jones (8-of-10, eight ground balls). William Spinnler (four ground balls) won 7-of-8 at the dot, Mason Gauntt claimed all six of his faceoffs, and Tyler Nieto was 5-of-6.

Senior Blake Mann had a hat trick and caused a turnover on Averett's first three clearing attempts of the day. His third caused turnover came in the 10th minute of action. On the next Cougar clear, Ryan McHugh forced a turnover and Mann finished it off for a 9-0 lead.

McHugh assisted Justin Calabrese to open the scoring. Mann forced a turnover, leading to a Phipps rip off Jake Pangle's assist.

In the fourth minute of play, Benjamin Vayer caused a turnover and countered down the field, with Mann scoring off Tabak's assist.

The Eagles also hit two crossbars in the first quarter, from Mann and Phipps. The Eagles struck man-up through Burns early in the second quarter to push their advantage to double digits.

After the Eagles killed off their first penalty of the game, Husselbaugh scored and then fed Portell just 17 seconds later to make it 12-0.

Sophomore Alesandro Gargano scored on a nice backhand flip to make it 15-0, and Anderson assisted on two goals in under a minute to push the first half lead to 18-0.

Averett finally got on the board in the final minute of the third quarter on a 6-on-3, after three different Eagles were flagged on the same play.

In the fourth quarter, Jones was knocked to the ground but kept possession- flipping it to Burns from the ground for the goal, and a 23-1 scoreline.

Bridgewater (1-0) will travel to Ferrum on Wednesday.