FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Only twice did Sangamon State University lose a soccer match this season, and only once were the Prairie Stars shut out.

They can't make up for one of the defeats, not this year, anyway. But they made up for their only shutout loss in a very big way Saturday afternoon.

The Stars, doing what they did throughout the week, put their signature on the NAIA National Soccer Tournament with a 3-1 championship victory over Alderson-Broaddus College.

It's the Prairie Stars' second national title in three years and it gave them a final record of 22 wins, two losses and no ties. One of the losses came to McKendree, a team SSU didn't get to play again.

The other loss saw the Prairie Stars blanked 3-0 by Alderson-Broaddus Oct. 22. But on a windy Florida day in late November, much more was at stake.

"I knew we'd beat them this time," said SSU senior co-captain Chris Owsley, who also played for the '86 championship team. "As good a team as we have, I knew nobody was going to beat us twice, let alone shut us out.

"The first time we played them, it was on their field and the weather was lousy. It was a different game this time. And this was a team win. Nobody got caught up in individual stuff."

But it took a group of individuals to beat the A-B Battlers, who finished 20-4-3. After the loss at A-B, SSU Coach Aydin Gonulsen said the Battlers were the best-skilled team his club had faced.

And now? "A-B still has an excellent squad," said Gonulsen, who was hoisted onto his players' shoulders -- and later into the hotel pool -- in post-game celebrations.

"But I think this championship is a tribute to our kids. They worked hard, and we started pushing them a little harder when the playoffs started. And you could see how they rounded into form."

The Prairie Stars won Saturday's match thanks to timely scoring and good defense. That sounds like a generalization, but the Stars, a team with a big-scoring reputation, proved they could play defense against championship-caliber competition.

In searching for one key, Gonulsen said Owsley might've been it.

"I really think Owsley was the missing link," Gonulsen said. "If he'd been able to play last year, who knows? This might have been our third in a row.

"Chris plays the defensive halfback position so well. I was afraid he wouldn't be back after the knee problem this season. But he's a blue-collar player, and he opened things up for some other guys, like Tim Amlong, to get into the offense.

A-B Coach Bobby Gray, who cited Owsley's abilities going into the game, praised SSU's overall defense.

"Like I said all along, Sangamon was very sound defensively," said Gray, whose only other title bid, in 1981, also resulted in second place.

"They did it all tournament long. It isn't always pretty, but it's effective. They know how to win, and they did it today."

The statistics revealed A-B outshooting SSU 19-14, but the Stars never trailed. For the second straight game, they scored within the first 2 minutes as Amlong, following a long throw-in by John Krohe, connected on a low shot from about 12 yards out to make it 1-0 at 1:26 into the match.

Sangamon State had the first-half wind advantage, but most of A-B's offensive pressure was applied in the first half. SSU goalie Ed Langert made a diving save about 9 minutes into the game, but A-B tied the score less than 2 minutes later.

It was freshman forward Dexter Sandy scoring from 9 yards out, the play set up after an A-B free kick bounced off some SSU defenders.

And it stayed tied until the 33:14 mark. Zico Doe launched a shot from about 18 yards out, and it hit the right goal post. But Amlong was there for the rebound, and he popped it in to make it 2-1. Doe, playing with a pulled hamstring, was held scoreless, leaving him with school records of 51 goals for the season and 78 for his career.

Amlong, on the other hand, finished with a school-record 26 assists for the season but came up with two goals in the title match.

"I knew I couldn't do as much today because of my leg," said Doe. "But Amlong did his best. He was in the right spot and scored two goals. He showed great anticipation."

With a 2-1 halftime lead and going into the wind in the second half, SSU players and coaches felt like they needed at least one more goal to ensure a championship.

"At halftime, we all said to each other, `one more goal, guys,'` Doe said. "We had to dig down for it and put their team in a hole."

Fullback Mike Rooney began excavating when he hit the crossbar with a long shot about 4 minutes into the second half. Nothing materialized again until Krohe had another long throw-in from the left side.

Rooney flicked Krohe's throw over to Joe Becher, and Becher headed the ball in to make it 3-1 at 15:00 into the second half.

"I couldn't really tell who flicked it, but they gave Mike the assist," Becher said. "I saw their goalie (Rich Alphonso) coming out, so I just tried to head the ball over him and it went in.

"We really wanted that goal."

Said Gray: "Down one goal and the wind to our backs, we were still optimistic. But the wind doesn't help us with our style of play that much. We like to keep the ball on the ground.

"Plus, SSU was so tough on defense. Their goalie does a great job controlling the box, and they tend to win more balls than they lose."

The Battlers weren't able to put up much of a fight after that as SSU was able to concentrate on defense even more with the two-goal cushion. Gray said his team seemed slow to react all day.

"Our reaction time was terrible," Gray said. "We were observers out there today. We got caught watching too many times. We had a few opportunities to get back in it, but we didn't finish those opportunities.

"Essentially, we didn't do anything we wanted to. We didn't want to give them the early goal, and we did that. But I give Sangamon all the credit. We beat a lot of good teams this year, including them. But they were the better side today."

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: While SSU won the championship, A-B placed more players on the 12-man All-Tournament Team.

Doe, named one of the all-tourney forwards, also was named Outstanding Offensive Player and Most Valuable Player. Amlong was an all-tourney midfielder.

A-B, meanwhile, had forward Frank Alphonso, midfielder John Davies, fullback Barrington Gaynor and goalie Rich Alphonso on the all-tourney team.

Davies also was named Outstanding Defensive Player.