For a national championship team, we often just see what happens on the final day.

In Cabrini’s case, that meant a 16-12 win over Amherst on Memorial Day weekend in front of a hometown crowd that ran four sections deep at Lincoln Financial Field. There were celebrations filled with Philadelphia pride, a post-game press conference and the parking-lot tailgate.

But what happened the day after will always stick with Cavaliers coach Steve Colfer. He lives about a mile and a half from Cabrini’s campus in Radnor, Pa., and was planning a low-key day. Then people started showing up with food in hand, an impromptu barbeque.

“I come from an Irish-Catholic family, and it’s like when someone dies,” Colfer joked. “People show up at your house with food and beer to help you get over the loss. That’s kind of what it was like, but we were celebrating and enjoying being around each other. School was over. There’s no practice. There’s no meetings. Everyone just doesn’t want it to end.”

Neighbors, alumni, coaches, family, players and members of the lacrosse community trickled through the front door. They watched the Division I final on TV between Yale and Virginia, as well as several replays of their Division III game against Amherst. Colfer had the NCAA championship trophy on the mantle over the fireplace.

“It was a great day, weather was beautiful, ideal spring day,” Colfer said. “Seeing the happiness on people’s faces was the best part of it.”

Cabrini made 18 straight trips to the NCAA tournament, all under Colfer, before winning it all for the first time in 2019—the school’s first national title in any varsity sport.

“A lot of times young assistants who are looking to become coaches, they’ll grab me on the road at recruiting events,” Colfer said. “They’ll ask how we do it at Cabrini or ask what the secret it is. But there is no secret. It’s just a matter of planting your flag and committing to a university as a coach and building something around you that’s positive, can stand and is the right culture. You don’t know if it’s one year, three years, five years away. You just have to keep plugging away.”

And now comes the question of what’s next for Cabrini. Leading scorer Jordan Krug (113 points), starting goalie Riley White, midfielder Bill Morgan and defender Nick Vass — All-Americans at every level of the field — led a special group of seniors that also included the inspirational Timmy Brooks.

“He put himself in a bad spot in life, but he dug himself out,” Colfer said of the 24-year-old Brooks, who was incarcerated at age 19 for selling marijuana and whose lacrosse journey came full circle. “This country was founded on second chances and redemption.”

Cabrini, the lone Pool B (independents and non-AQ conference members) entrant in the tournament, upset York and Salisbury en route to the championship. The Cavaliers are the first men’s lacrosse team from Pennsylvania in any division to win a national title.

Equally as gratifying to Colfer is the idea that it’s not just the RITs, Tufts and Salisburys of the D-III world who are in contention each spring. There’s parity and a belief that anybody, even Cabrini, can get the job done.