COLLEGE PARK, Maryland -- Coming into the Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship game May 28, many of the sport's followers had no idea where Limestone College was.

But after the Saints marched from Gaffney, South Carolina, to post a 10-9 win over C.W. Post at the University of Maryland's Ludwig Field, they at least know that Limestone can play.

Until this year, perhaps the ignorance was justified. The Saints had no prayer of making Division II's one-game "tournament" since the sport's paradigm read that there was a huge drop-off in Division II talent once one ventured south of New York state, Long Island in particular. So Limestone and the rest of its Southern partners were caught in a Catch 22. The two teams always came from the North since those were, logic had it, the top two teams.

The Division II Championships Committee forced a change last year, deciding that in 2000, the South would rise for the first time and be represented in the title game.

"Some people will think this is an upset," said Limestone coach Mike Cerino. "A lot of people call (our being in the game) regionalization. Regionalization has been going on in other divisions for a while.

"We felt we were one of the better teams in the country this year and we've been a top-five team for the last three or four years. It was just a matter of time. We focused not on North or South but on beating Post."

Limestone benefited from its focus early. The Saints rolled to a 3-0 first-quarter lead, grabbing momentum they never relinquished.

The Pioneers, who have come up short in each of the last three championship games, never went away, but they never led, either. Post managed only two ties despite leading in most statistical categories, sometimes by a wide margin. Post had the most shots (40-34), won the most face-offs (17-5) and had the most groundballs (50-42). The Pioneers had twice the extra-man opportunities of Limestone (10-5), though they scored on only two of them, and stopped every one of Limestone's.

"It's not easy to get down, 3-0," said C.W. Post coach Tom Postel. "We came back but we never took control."

Control or not, the Pioneers still almost won. C.W. Post was back essentially to where it started from, 10-7, with 3:38 left in the game before Benny Cottone scored his fourth and fifth goals to close to 10-9 with 2:22 left. Limestone won the ensuing face-off and attempted to run out the clock, but lost the ball. The Pioneers got the ball back with 15 seconds left but never got a clear shot.

Postel was quick to point out that he was not among the people who doubted Limestone, nor were his players.

"A lot of the people in the lacrosse world thought that Post was going to run through them," he said. "We didn't. We respected them all the way and they showed they were a very good lacrosse team."

Limestone finished the season 14-2; C.W. Post dropped to 8-4.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Limestone scoring -- Nick Carlson 3, Matt Collins 2, Brendan Spilker 2, Jon Riley 1, Devan Spilker 1, Rick Matthews 1.

C.W. Post scoring -- Benny Cottone 5, Drew Cavadias 1, Joe Buccello 1, Larry Collins 1, Ernie Thompson 1.

Shots: Limestone 34, C.W. Post 40. Saves: Limestone -- Matt Malloy 10; C.W. Post -- R.J. Degenfelder 9. Attendance: 2,019.