STEUBENVILLE – The crowd bellowed: "Three! Two! One!" then sprinted from the sidelines on to the field, joining the Franciscan University Baron Soccer team in celebrating its first win of the season and the breaking of Medaille College's five-year Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference winning streak.  The Barons won 2-1 over the Mavericks, and head further into conference play with a 1-0 season standing.

From the opening kick, the Barons pushed full-field intensity. Freshman Leonel Lacayo blasted a shot in five minutes into the match, and claimed a second goal at the 28-minute mark. But, as head coach Johann Marin would point out afterwards, it wasn't any one player that granted Franciscan the victory.

"To beat them on our home soil was, indeed a blessing. The Barons played to win today. It wasn't any individual thing; it was the whole team glorifying God in victory.  The Lord blessed us today and all we can do is humbly accept it."

Franciscan was outshot by the Mavs, but of the Barons mere six shots, all were on target and Lacayo's two found their mark in the back of the net.

The Barons needed this win badly.

"It was a great way to start the conference," Marin said.  "We had been beating ourselves, but today we got to see what it was like to be a good example to the rest of the student body and glorify God.  We didn't play perfect soccer today, but as a team we were perfect. This is a good thing for the guys to experience, and a goal for us to shoot for the rest of the season."

Franciscan University hosts Malone College Thursday, September 30, at 5 p.m.