NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey -- Depending on the decade, a particular city with sporting success will dub itself the "city of champions." If there is a "campus of champions," it may be Middlebury, especially after the Panthers captured their second straight Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship May 27 at Rutgers.

Not only did the successful defending champions, who defeated Gettysburg, 15-10, become the only team to win both the Division III men's and women's lacrosse titles in the same year, those two crowns increased the school's championship take to 14 in the last six years.

That rally happened early in the second half, when Gettysburg scored two quick goals to close to 7-5 with 13:34 remaining in the third quarter after an unassisted goal by Rich Sharp. Gettysburg's Pete Milliman opened the half with his 100th career goal, also unassisted, with 14:11 left in the quarter.

The Panthers, who finished the season 17-1, answered with a 4-1 run -- two scores coming from Matt Dunn -- to resurrect their five-goal advantage, 12-7. The largest lead, 15-9, came with 14:49 left in the game after Greg Carroll's third goal, assisted by Holt Hopkins, who was named the game's most outstanding player. The assist was the fourth for Hopkins, who also had two goals. Zach Herbert finished with two goals and two assists. Dunn had two goals and one assist.

"I told the guys to keep their feet on the ground if we got up five or six goals, and they did that."

With the day's 15 goals, Middlebury finished the tournament with 70, besting Hobart's record of 69 set in 1980.

Gettysburg coach Hank Janczyk, a Hobart graduate whose team had beaten the Panthers the last two times they met, said his team was outplayed this time.

"We ran into a buzzsaw today," he said. "We knew they were a running team and we worked hard to stop them. When we got it to 7-5, we had an opportunity to make it 7-6 and we didn't, then they got another goal. They had answers every time we started to come back."

Middlebury, despite losing only one game, overcame a low point in late March after getting pounded by Springfield, 23-10.

"Persistence was our theme," Quinn said. "It was on the back of our team T-shirt, and that was appropriate.

"We had a lot of guys back from last year's team, but this was a different team. The key was not anything that we as coaches did -- it was how the players responded. We got better throughout the season and kept building confidence."

Such a plan seems to be commonplace on the Vermont school's campus.

Semifinals

Gettysburg 13, Denison 7; Middlebury 5, Nazareth 2.

Gettysburg scoring: Jake Van Nostrand 3, Pete Milliman 2, Tommy Pearce 1, Rich Sharp 1, Chris Baran 1, Charlie Hanchett 1, Matt Twombly 1.

Middlebury scoring: Greg Carroll 3, Zach Herbert 2, Holt Hopkins 2, Peter Albro 2, Matt Dunn 2, David Seeley 1, Christopher Davis 1, Jamie Haire 1, Mike Frissora 1.

Shots: Gettysburg 49, Middlebury 6. Saves: Gettysburg -- Tim McGinnis 6; Middlebury -- Eric Krieger 14. Paid Attendance: 14,417.