NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey -- South Carolina's Limestone, a virtual unknown four years ago, won its second Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship in three seasons, 11-9, over previously undefeated New York Tech May 26 at Rutgers' Yurcak Field.

The Saints, who marched in to their third straight championship game with a 12-2 record, their only losses coming to Division III tournament teams Washington (Maryland) and Washington and Lee, took control early and held off a too-late rally for an 11-9 win and the national championship.

First-year Limestone coach T.W. Johnson said he was surprised by his team's performance because of what had happened the previous day at practice.

"We couldn't even throw and catch the ball, so going into last night I was kind of worried," he said. "We've been waiting for these guys to play 60 minutes of lacrosse all year. We had put together spurts where we had played two quarters of good lacrosse, but today they put together 60 minutes."

Bears' coach Jack Kaley, whose team won the 1997 title, agreed with Johnson about the winners' effort.

"It's tough to lose, but if you are going to lose, it's great to lose to a team that played a great game for the full 60 minutes," he said.

After a quiet first quarter ended tied at two goals each, Limestone ran off four unanswered goals to build a 7-3 lead. The first goal of the run came from the tournament's most outstanding player, Devan Spilker, who finished with three goals and one assist.

"For my first two goals, I had a step on the guy (Matt Hunter), and he was very active," Spilker said. "If you get the ball, he'll run out to you."

Limestone found out early that Hunter also would "run out" after a save. The New York Tech goalie had picked up a rare goalie assist on the Bears' first goal of the game after sprinting down the field and flipping a pass to Paul Montali.

Limestone built its biggest lead, 8-3, with 6:27 left in the third quarter on a goal by Jason Randolph, assisted by Spilker.

The Saints held an 11-7 advantage with 4:37 left before New York Tech mounted its late surge on goals by Tom Zummo and Brian Boyle, the latter coming with 1:11 left in the game.

"If there were a few more minutes in the game, I'm not sure what would have happened," said Saints defenseman Travis Gillespie. "They came on pretty strong. We just had to keep throwing the ball down to our end of the field (to keep them from scoring more) because we really couldn't clear the ball."

Kaley said that his team, which outshot the winners, 53-33, had been a good comeback team all year, "but every time we attempted to come back (Limestone) took the wind out of our sails."

Championship

Limestone scoring: Jason Randolph 3, Devan Spilker 3, Nick Carlson 1, Nolan Heavenor 1, John Navarro 1, Chris Mangum 1, Robert Woody 1.

New York Tech scoring: Jeremy Nickol 2, Tom Zummo 2, Paul Montali 1, Peter Muller 1, Greg Kalberer 1, Tim Spruyt 1, Brian Boyle 1.

Shots: Limestone 33, New York Tech 53. Saves: Limestone -- Matt Malloy 18; New York Tech -- Matt Hunter 8. Paid Attendance: 2,141