Johns Hopkins completed a perfect season May 30 to win the Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

The Blue Jays came from behind to beat Duke, 9-8, and become just the third team in NCAA men's lacrosse championship history to finish the season undefeated.

The game was played before a Division I men's lacrosse championship-game record crowd of 44,920. The previous record was 43,898, set at the 2004 championship game in Baltimore between Syracuse and Navy.

Duke led by as many as two goals on several occasions, but the experienced Johns Hopkins team, which has appeared in the postseason tournament every year since 1972, scored the last three goals of the game to take the title.

On a Blue Jays team filled with seniors who still felt the sting of a 2004 semifinal loss to eventual champion Syracuse, it was the underclassmen who stepped up their play to engineer the win. Freshmen Kevin Huntley and Paul Rabil joined junior Greg Peyser and senior Kyle Harrison with two goals apiece. And the one goal sophomore Jake Byrne scored happened to be the game-clincher in the fourth quarter.

Underclassmen also dominated the Duke scoring. Sophomore Matt Danowski, who broke the Duke single-season points record with 92 (50 goals and 42 assists), was one of three Blue Devils to tally twice.

The largely back-and-forth game featured strong defense, with neither team scoring after Byrne connected with 13:35 remaining in the game. Blue Jays sophomore goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman had seven of his 12 saves in the final 30 minutes. He credited defensemen Chris Watson, Tom Garvey and Matt Pinto with keeping the ball away from the net.

"Our defense did a tremendous job of forcing their shooters away and buckling down in the second half. To have two seniors and Matt playing in front of me like that helps make my job a little easier," Schwartzman said.

Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala praised the play of his seniors and the quality of the Duke team.

"I am so proud of these guys right now, of what they've endured and what they've overcome. But more importantly, I'm proud of how they've handled all of that. They've handled winning and losing with dignity," he said. "In regards to the game, hats off to Duke. To come from where they were one year ago with basically the same core team, to turn it around like they did and be one goal away in the national-championship game speaks volumes to their players, their coaching staff and their program. It was a great game."

Duke coach Mike Pressler also praised the way his team rallied from a 5-8 season in 2004 to go 17-3 in 2005 and reach the final. Pressler downplayed the role the Blue Jays' experience played in the win.

"We're still going to battle hard, even though we're not a senior-laden group like Johns Hopkins. I don't think that (experience) was the case at all," he said. "It's tough to put this into perspective. We were one play away from a national championship."

Quarterfinals

Johns Hopkins 19, Massachusetts 9; Virginia 10, Navy 8; Maryland 9, Georgetown 8; Duke 11, Cornell 8.

Semifinals

Duke scoring: Zack Greer 4, Dan Flannery 3, Matt Zash 3, Nick O'Hara 2, Kyle Dowd 2, Matt Danowski 1, Ryan Marshall 1, Bret Thompson 1, Bo Carrington 1.

Maryland scoring: Joe Walters 3, Bill McGlone 2, Andrew Schwartzman 2, Xander Ritz 1, Thomas Alford 1.

Shots: Duke 36, Maryland 36. Goalkeeper saves: Duke (Aaron Fenton) 15, Maryland (Harry Alford) 8.

Johns Hopkins scoring: Joe Malo 2, Jake Byrne 2, Kyle Barrie 1, Matt Rewkowski 1, Kyle Harrison 1, Peter LeSueur 1.

Virginia scoring: Matt Ward 4, Ben Rubeor 1, John Christmas 1, J.J. Morrissey 1, Matt Poskay 1.

Shots: Johns Hopkins 48, Virginia 39. Goalkeeper saves: Johns Hopkins (Jesse Schwartzman) 11, Virginia (Kip Turner) 18.

Championship game

Johns Hopkins scoring: Kyle Harrison 2, Kevin Huntley 2, Greg Peyser 2, Paul Rabil 2, Jake Byrne 1.

Duke scoring: Matt Danowksi 2, Matt Zash 2, Dan Flannery 2, Kyle Dowd 1, Bret Thompson 1.

Shots: Johns Hopkins 31, Duke 31. Goalkeeper saves: Johns Hopkins (Jesse Schwartzman) 12, Duke (Aaron Fenton) 7