By Julian Benbow, Globe staff

FOXBOROUGH -- The once-unranked Loyola Greyhounds men's lacrosse team spent all season marching to the national championship.

Their unheralded leading scorer Eric Lusby led the way.

Playing in the championship game for the first time since 1990, the Greyhounds polished of their best season in school history with a 9-3 win that earned them their first ever national title after being left out of the Top 20 in the preseason.

Coming off back-to-back five-goal games, Lusby, who was left off the All-America first team when it was announced yesterday, scored a game-high four goals and finished the tournament with 17, setting the record for most goals in the postseason. He broke teammate Mike Sawyer's school record for goals in a season with 54.

He was one of six different Greyhounds to find the net while Maryland, which had hung 16 goals on Duke in the semifinals, watched its offense falter in its second trip to the title game in as many years.

Loyola closed the first half with three unanswered goals from Pat Byrnes, Mike Sawyer and Phil Dobson, putting the Terrapins on the ropes.

After Kevin Cooper fired one over Jack Runkel's right shoulder to put the Terrapins up 3-2 with 10:40 left in the second quarter. The Greyhounds held the scoreless the next 40:40, easily their longest drought of the season.