With a deflected shot from senior co-founder Clay Fisher in sudden death overtime, the three-year-old GW men’s club lacrosse team won the national championship of the National Club Lacrosse League Division II Sunday afternoon at Albright College (Pa.).

It’s unbelievable, junior co-captain John Teresinski said. I didn’t really realize what we’d done until the car ride home. Being national champions means a lot. I mean, I’ve won like county championships before . This is a perfect way for Clay and those guys to go out, especially Clay.

The 11-10 victory over Drexel University (only GW’s 18th win all-time) represented quite an accomplishment for a team that was founded just two years ago by Fisher and Julian Tigani.

When we started, just getting to games was a big deal, Teresinksi said. We used to take the Metro. We’ve grown a lot in the last two years, and now we’re contenders.

The Colonials took an unlikely road to the top. Their first year, they were 2-8, then 6-3. This year, they finished the regular season at just 6-5. They advanced to the Division II playoffs and topped Temple 14-7 in the first round. In the quarterfinals, they knocked off Mary Washington College 12-8.

That victory qualified GW for the Final Four in Reading, Pa. They were set to face Denison University (Ohio) Saturday, but Denison didn’t show up, sending GW to the title game versus Drexel by forfeit.

In the championship match, the Colonials jumped out to a 9-4 lead at the half. But an uninspired second half found GW in a 10-10 tie and headed to sudden death overtime.

After some gritty defense kept GW in the game, a Drexel penalty gave the Colonials a man-advantage. Fisher took the opportunity to rip a shot from the top that deflected off a stick before going in.

It was a storybook ending, said Fisher, who was immediately buried by teammates after scoring the goal. I mean, I started the team three years ago, and to end my career by scoring the winning goal in the national championship, well, it’s just a storybook ending.