“When I got there, there were 17 guys on the team. We had one game field and a slanted practice field that was covered with rocks,” he said. “That first practice, I remember thinking this is unbelievable. I wondered if I had made the biggest mistake of my life.”

These days, Cantabene can look back fondly at one of the more impressive growth spurts in college lacrosse.

Here?s how far the Mustangs ? ranked No. 10 this week ? have come and how swiftly they have gotten there. A year ago, they upset defending national champion Cortland to blast their way onto the Division III map. That set the tone for an 11-5 record in a season that included several trips into the top 20.

Three weeks ago, Villa Julie played before a record crowd of 1,800 and lost a 13-12 heartbreaker to Salisbury. The Sea Gulls merely finished 23-0 last season and basically own the Division III world, having won four of the past five national titles.

Last week?s 20-12 defeat at Salisbury in the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament championship game was a definite downer, as it deprived the Mustangs of an automatic berth in their first Division III tournament.

Still, with a regular season-ending victory over Stevens on May 3, Villa Julie (12-4) has a legitimate chance to receive an at-large invitation. The Mustangs have lost only to Salisbury and powerhouses Gettysburg and Lynchburg, including a 10-9 squeaker to Gettysburg.

No one is laughing anymore at the Mustangs, who have visited the top 10 regularly this spring and have achieved a school-record in victories. Instead, they are recipients of the backhanded compliment. Numerous, upper-echelon Division III schools ? Cortland, Washington, Goucher ? that used to schedule Villa Julie in search of an easy “W” are now avoiding the Mustangs.

What hasn?t changed at the small college on Greenspring Valley is some people still think is a commuter school for women.

Cantabene, who starred at Loyola College and at the pro level as a player, then cut his coaching teeth as an assistant at Towson and Maryland, has a four-man staff, led by paid, part-timer Tim Puls, who has a rich history at the junior college level.

With school president Kevin Manning?s blessing, Villa Julie has increased its recruiting budget by “about 300 percent,” according to Cantabene. The school acquired the former home of the Ravens next to its Owings Mills campus three years ago, which gave the program a huge facility upgrade.

The talent has followed. Villa Julie now sports a 50-man roster, about 60 percent of which comes from Maryland. That includes sophomore attacker and leading scorer Richard Ford, a former Towson standout who has 54 goals and attack Kevin Donnelly, a former Pallotti star who has 41 points. The team has just five seniors.

But Cantabene and his staff have the funds to immerse themselves in several recruiting camps and tournaments. They have gotten players from as far north as New Hampshire, as far south as Miami and as far west as Redondo Beach, Calif.

“Now, we have one of the best locker rooms in Division III. We?re getting lots of players who are coming from winning [high school and junior college] programs,” Cantabene said. “We still have a long way to go. We still need to take that next step. But we?re celebrating a lot of good things.”

Even if Villa Julie fails to make the NCAA Tournament next month, this much is clear.

Cantabene and the Mustangs have arrived.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at [email protected].