BALTIMORE -- Ten yards generally is a goal on a football field. In the Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship May 30 at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL Ravens, it was a limit -- the distance beyond which defending champion Salisbury could not shoot.

The reason? Nazareth goalie Alex Civalier.

"We drew a big black line on our field this week and told them that no one could shoot from outside that for this game because we knew that he was a good goalie," said Salisbury coach Jim Berkman.

The plan didn't stop Civalier from becoming the second losing player in the championship's 25 years to be voted most outstanding player [Larry Boehm of Washington (Maryland) being the other in 1986], but the main goal was realized. The Sea Gulls, despite Civalier's 20 saves, won their second straight title, 13-9, claiming their 29th straight win and finishing the season with a school-record 20 triumphs. The last time the Gulls lost was April 10, 2003, to Lynchburg.

"He made a lot of saves but they were all on close shots," Berkman said of the opposing goalie, noting that his team followed the game plan.

Playing in front of a turnstile crowd of 19,202, which broke last year's mark of 15,417, the Sea Gulls, whose title was their fifth, all under Berkman, stormed to a 4-0 lead by 3:43 left in the first quarter. Nazareth coach Rob Randall, coaching in his first championship game and the Golden Flyers' first since they registered consecutive crowns in 1996 and 1997, said his squad may have suffered some jitters from playing in front of such a large crowd.

"Our kids may have been a little shocked coming out of the blocks," he said.

But Nazareth steadied soon, capitalizing on the few chances it got despite being dominated statistically. The Flyers scored the first three goals of the second period, the third coming with 10:55 left in the half from Chad Amidon, his 17th of the year. Although Salisbury answered by widening the margin to two on two different occasions later in the half, Nazareth's Bryan Adams' 37th goal of the season with 51 seconds left in the half closed the score to 8-7 at the break.

"I looked up and saw the halftime statistics," Berkman said after the game, "You give up a four-goal lead and you say 'man, what are we doing wrong, we're not playing well, but we played awful well.'

"I look up there and see that Civalier had 12 saves (at half) and I don't know how many more shots we had than them (seven) and he was saving everything for a while."

Salisbury extended its lead to three on a goal by Scott Simmons, his third of the day, assisted by Mike Edwards, with 11:01 left in the third quarter. Six minutes later the lead was back to four after Andy Arnold scored his third goal of the game. Arnold also scored the game's last goal, giving him a game-high four and his team a 13-9 win.

"We played an outstanding game for 45 minutes, today," Randall said. "If we could have erased that first quarter we would have had an even game.

"We regrouped at the end of the first quarter and into the second and I'm proud as heck of our kids."

Second that emotion for Berkman. Ever since his teams won back-to-back titles in the 1994 and 1995, newcomers have been well-schooled in Sea Gulls tradition. This team built its own and possibly passed the not-so-old-timers.

"These guys have heard about those guys for a long time," the Gulls' coach said. "Now they've etched their own name in history. I'd say they're as good if not the best team I've ever coached."

Quarterfinals

Middlebury 17, Stevens Institute 5; Nazareth 10, Cortland St. 8; Salisbury 15, Wash. & Lee 6; Washington (Md.) 9, Gettysburg 8.

Semifinals

Nazareth 12, Middlebury 8; Salisbury 13, Washington (Md.) 11.

Nazareth scoring: T.J. Rogers 2, Justin Wahl 1, Bryan Adams 1, Bryan Coon 1, Brandon Brown 1, Chad Amidon 1, Brian Navarra 1, Ryan Hotaling 1.

Salisbury scoring: Andy Arnold 4, Scott Simmons 3, Justin Smith 2, Corey O'Neil 1, Mike Ricucci 1, Bryan Bradford 1, Ryan Rohde 1.

Shots: Nazareth 32, Salisbury 48. Saves: Nazareth -- Alex Civalier 20; Salisbury -- Dan Korpon 9.