Honorable Mention: Mixed Martial Arts-Bellator Fighting Championships 67 (Friday 8pm from Ontario, Canada live on MTV2); Boxing: Friday Night Fights-Ismayl Sillakh vs. Denis Grachev (Friday 10pm from Austin, TX live on ESPN2), Thomas Oosthuizen vs. Marcus Johnson (Friday 11pm from Miami, OK live on Showtime), Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson (Saturday 10:15pm from Atlantic City live on HBO), Vyacheslav Senchenko vs. Paulie Malignaggi (Sunday 1pm from Donetsk, Ukraine live on Pay-Per-View); Tennis: ATP Tour Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (Thursday 7:30am Friday 6:30am Sunday 10am from Barcelona live on Tennis Channel), WTA Tour Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Saturday 8am & 12pm Sunday 12:30pm from Stuttgart, Germany live on Tennis Channel); Women’s College Lacrosse: Georgetown @ Maryland (Wednesday 7pm Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex College Park)

10. Rammstein (Wednesday 8pm 1st Mariner Arena), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Sunday 8pm 1st Mariner Arena); Shinedown (Wednesday 6pm Rams Head Live), All-American Rejects (Sunday 7pm Rams Head Live); Bob Schneider (Saturday 8pm 8×10 Club); Pat McGee Band (Friday & Saturday 8pm Rams Head on Stage); Punch Brothers (Friday 8pm 9:30 Club); Creed (Tuesday 8pm Warner Theatre); Kottonmouth Kings (Wednesday 6:30pm Sonar); Chuck Berry (Saturday 8pm Howard Theatre); Mac Miller (Thursday 6:30pm Pier Six Pavilion); Nellie McKay (Thursday 6:30pm Birchmere); Candlebox (Monday 8pm Fillmore Silver Spring); Sweetlife Festival feat. Kid Cudi, Fitz and the Tantrums, Fun. (Saturday 12pm Merriweather Post Pavilion); Death Cab For Cutie (Monday 8pm Strathmore); Nickelback/Bush/Seether (Monday 6pm Verizon Center); Jack White “Blunderbuss” available in stores/on iTunes (Tuesday)

TSO didn’t post in Charm City this Christmas, and you know someone who was bitter. I’d be willing to go see them Sunday night though, their Beethoven stuff is also awesome…

Does anyone just want to GIVE me tickets to the Punch Brothers show Friday night? Most of you haven’t given me a birthday present in years.

Enjoy skateboarding? Hip-hop? Marijuana? Here’s Kid Cudi…

Jack White is sorta becoming that “I don’t care what he does I’m just going to like it” man for the 21st century. Are we still in the 21st century?

9. “The Raven” and “The Five-Year Engagement” out in theaters (Friday); “Contraband” available on Blu-Ray/DVD (Tuesday); Tom Brokaw (Tuesday 8pm Meyerhoff Symphony Hall); Sugarloaf Crafts Festival (Friday-Sunday Timonium Fairgrounds)

I’d love to dissect Jason Segel’s new flick (I think it actually looks good) or try to figure out what the hell they do at the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, but I don’t know where else in T10BD I’d be able to post this picture of a frog sitting on a bench like a human…

We all agree this is the greatest picture of all time, right?

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Few games that receive as much hype as Saturday’s men’s lacrosse matchup between top-ranked Virginia and second-ranked Johns Hopkins actually live up to the advance billing. After regulation and all but five seconds of a full overtime, it’s safe to say that the Blue Jays’ 11-10 win over the Cavaliers did – and then some.

Johns Hopkins trailed by as many as three in the first half, led by two early in the fourth quarter and trailed by a goal with just over a minute to play in regulation – while playing a man down.

That’s when things really got crazy.

Virginia turned the ball over with 11 seconds remaining on its extra-man chance and the Blue Jays needed one timeout and 27 seconds before junior Lee Coppersmith slipped inside a pair of defenders and scored from the high slot with 44 seconds left in regulation.

Failed extra-man chances and turnovers by both teams over the remainder of regulation and the first three plus minutes overtime eventually led to Hopkins isolating junior John Ranagan at the top of the box as the first overtime ticket away. After getting a quick step on his defender, he beat Virginia goalie Rob Fortunato low for his eighth goal of the season and the Blue Jays had exorcised yet another demon they had carried – and heard about – for far too long.

Ranagan’s goal lifted the Blue Jays to their first win in Charlottesville against the Cavaliers since 1998. Earlier wins at Princeton and last week against Syracuse had stopped losing streaks against the Tigers and Orange that had stretched to three and five games, respectively.

Winning at Virginia – that was an entirely different monkey on the back; or gorilla as JHU head coach Dave Pietramala has referred to it a week earlier.

That the game went to overtime should surprise few. During the losing streak in Charlottesville the Blue Jays had alternated blowout losses in 2002, 2006 and 2010 with overtime defeats in 2004 and 2008. Eventually one of these had to break Hopkins’ way.

After Virginia built an early 4-1 lead on lengthy possessions and back-to-back goals by Chris Bocklet that bridged the first and second quarters, the Blue Jays slowly began to work their way back into the game.

The Blue Jays grabbed the momentum midway through the second quarter as they scored consecutive goals in a three-minute span midway through the period. Sophomore Brandon Benn one-timed home a pass to the crease from junior Zach Palmer to make it 4-2 and freshman Wells Stanwick made it a one-goal game with 4:34 remaining in the first half as he dodged hard to the crease from behind the goal and beat Fortunato from in tight.

A Steele Stanwick goal into an empty net gave the Cavs a 5-3 lead at halftime and the teams traded goals in a 35-second span early in the period to make it 6-4. Nearly 15 minutes would pass before Virginia would score again. During that time the Blue Jays scored four times to build their two-goal lead.

Benn completed his third consecutive hat trick 29 seconds after a Ryan Tucker goal to ignite the four-goal run, which included the first career goal by sophomore Jack Reilly and back-to-back extra-man goals by Rob Guida in a span of just over five minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters.

Virginia, as it does so often, struck back quickly with two goals in a 50-second span shortly after Guida’s strike made it 8-6. A Rob Emery extra-man goal drew the Cavs within one at 8-7 and Matt White’s highlight-reel behind the back shot from the crease tied it less than a minute later.

If White’s shot was destined for play of the game, it was quickly bumped by Zach Palmer’s goal 52 seconds later. Working from behind the goal, Palmer drove up the side and scored on a one-handed wrap-around shot from goal line extended that gave the Blue Jays a 9-8 lead with more than 10 minutes remaining.

The one-goal lead didn’t figure to hold – and it didn’t. Steele Stanwick scored from in tight after defenseman Tucker Durkin lost his footing to knot the game with just over four minutes remaining and Tucker fired home his second of the game with 2:44 on the clock to give Virginia a 10-9 lead.

The one-goal lead held for exactly two minutes, when Coppersmith fired home the game-tying goal that forced overtime and led to Ranagan’s game-winner that lifted the final proverbial monkey off the Blue Jays’ back.

Benn led the Blue Jays with his three goals, while Guida notched a career-high four points on two goals and two assists. Wells Stanwick (1g, 2a) and Palmer (1g, 1a) were JHU’s other multi-point scorers, while freshman Drew Kennedy won 8-of-14 faceoffs and junior goalie Pierce Bassett posted nine saves.

Virginia, which had its 14-game home winning streak snapped, was led by Steele Stanwick’s two goals and three assists, while Emery, Bocklet and Tucker added two goals apiece for the Cavaliers, who also got 11 saves from Fortunato.

Johns Hopkins, which figures to take over the top spot in the national rankings when the new polls are released on Monday, will play North Carolina in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic next Sunday night (6:30 pm) at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

#24/rv Virginia (21-8, 8-7) at Maryland (16-13, 6-9)
Sunday, March 4, 2012 | 2 p.m. | Comcast Center
ACC Network | Terrapin Sports Radio Network

• Maryland plays host to Virginia on its traditional Senior Day, when the Terrapins honor the graduating seniors of the Class of 2012. The game also has an effect on the standings in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Maryland in eighth in the league with a 6-9 record and Virginia in fourth at 8-6 before the Cavaliers’ Thursday-night game at home against Florida State. Maryland is 13-3 this season at Comcast Center.
• Based on the standings prior to Thursday’s games (Florida State at Virginia, Virginia Tech at Clemson), the Terrapins could finish in either the seventh or eighth spot in the league. A climb to seventh would need a Terps’ win Sunday over Virginia and a pair of Clemson losses (Tigers close Sunday at Florida State).
• Sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin had 16 points on Wednesday against the Tar Heels. That brought his season total to 610 points, marking the 18th time in school history a player has had 600 points or more in a season. The last one to accomplish that plateau was Greivis Vasquez, who had 647 in 2010. Stoglin also comes into today’s game with 986 points in his career and has a chance to become only the third Terrapin in school history to reach 1,000 points in his first two seasons. Joe Smith had 1,290 points from 1993-95 and Tom McMillen had 1,283 from 1971-73.
• Freshman Nick Faust had a career-high 17 points on Wednesday at North Carolina. Faust has been playing his best basketball of the season down the stretch and has five games in double figures in his last six outings. His previous season-highs have come against some of Maryland’s best competition of the year, with 15 points at Duke and against Colorado at the Puerto Rico Tipoff. Faust leads the Terrapins in assists (63) and is second to Sean Mosley in steals (28).
• Junior forward James Padgett had his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Tar Heels. The 13 boards were the most of the season by a Terrapin player. He also had five offensive rebounds, giving him 102 for the year. It marks the eighth time in school history a player has grabbed 100 offensive rebounds in a season.
• With 16 wins, Maryland has most likely advanced its string of consecutive winning seasons to 19. The last time a Terrapin team finished below .500 was 1992-93, when the Terps went 12-16 in the final year of crippling NCAA sanctions. Each school in the ACC has had a losing season since the Terps (including Duke, 13-18 in 1995 and North Carolina, 8-20 in 2002).
• Maryland lost to Virginia, 71-44, in the first meeting of the season between these two teams on Feb. 18. The Cavaliers have won two straight in the series, including a 74-60 win in last year’s game at Comcast Center. Maryland still leads the overall series between the teams 106-69.
• Virginia comes into the game 24th in the most recent Associated Press poll. The Terrapins’ last win over a ranked team was a 79-72 win over then-No. 4 Duke on 3/3/2010 in Comcast Center.
• The men’s basketball program today will pay tribute to senior players Sean Mosley, Berend Weijs and Jon Dillard, along with managers Donald Darang and Phil Baldwin. Ceremonies will be held during pregame.
  

  Scouting the Cavaliers

• Virginia comes into the game 24th in the most recent Associated Press poll, with a 21-8 overall record (8-7 ACC) following a 63-60 loss to Florida State at home on Thursday.
• Senior forward Mike Scott leads the team in scoring (17.3 ppg) and rebounds (8.2 rpg), and is shooting 57.4 percent from the field, best in the ACC… Sophomore guard Joe Harris is also scoring in double figures with 11.4 ppg and is shooting 39 percent from 3FG.
• Virginia ranks highly in several defensive categories, coming in at second nationally in scoring defense (52.6 ppg), 14th in field goal percentage defense (.390), and second in the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.287).
• The Cavaliers are also third in the conference is turnover margin (plus-1.62) and assist-turnover ratio (1.1), with junior guard Jontel Evans leading the team and ranking fifth in the league with 3.8 assists per game.
  

  Upcoming

  The Terrapins will leave Tuesday, March 6 for the 2012 ACC Tournament, to be played at Philips Arena in Atlanta, with its open practice day coming on Wednesday… Maryland will be the No. 8 seed in the tournament and will play the 9th seed at noon on Thursday… The winner of the opening first-round game will face the No. 1 seed at noon in Friday’s quarterfinals.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — As a tie game at halftime turned into a blowout loss to the University of Virginia Saturday, University of Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon decided he couldn’t sit back and watch his scholarship players go through the motions anymore.

With roughly three minutes to play in the game, Turgeon inserted five walk-on players into the Terrapins’ lineup and stuck with them for the rest of the game. It only made a blowout loss more lopsided, but the head coach was in need of making a statement.

“I just had enough” Turgeon said. “Selfishness, not boxing out, not defending. I wanted to do it earlier. You can go down our whole list-if you can tell me one guy that played well today, I’ll argue that you’re wrong. We were 0-14 or however many guys we played today.”

The number actually was 14 players, and none had anything to offer in the second half of the Terrapins’ 71-44 loss to the Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena. The Terps (15-11, 5-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) had managed to erase an early deficit and tie things up at intermission thanks to 14 points from G Terrell Stoglin. Stoglin wouldn’t score again after the break, and the Cavs (20-6, 7-5 ACC) outscored Maryland 40-13 the rest of the way.

It was as ugly (if not uglier) than I’m sure it appeared on television. Maryland shot a putrid 5-24 (20.8%) from the field and turned the ball over 12 times after returning from the locker room. Those 12 points resulted in 20 points for the Wahoos, while the Terps forced just one UVa turnover after the half (which actually did result in two points).

There’s no silver lining to Maryland’s second half effort. It was abysmal. It made spectators wonder why the team even bothered to return to the floor after the break. It was so frustrating that the coach compared it to Maryland’s previous season low point.

“This reminded me of Puerto Rico today. I thought we looked like we were disinterested as far as trying to be tough on defense and rebounding. Our execution was poor.”

Turgeon was referring to the team’s early season trip to San Juan for the 5-Hour Energy Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where they lost two of three games-including a blowout defeat at the hands of Iona. After the stretch, Turgeon referred to his team as “the biggest challenge I’ve ever had in coaching; it’s not even close.”

Similarly, Maryland played the three games in Puerto Rico without sophomore PG Pe’Shon Howard, who missed his third straight game Saturday (and will be out for the rest of the season) with a torn ACL. The Terps were also without freshman C Alex Len in Puerto Rico due to suspension. Len tallied zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks and zero steals to go with one turnover and two missed field goals in 20 minutes Saturday. It’s difficult to determine which scenario would have been preferable.

This is the part of the column where I note that Maryland was playing a second game in roughly 40 hours after recording a win over Boston College Thursday night in College Park. Neither Turgeon nor senior G Sean Mosley would use the turnaround as an excuse, but Turegon was willing to admit the span “was hard” on his team. Now I’ve noted it.

I should also probably note that a tip of the cap is warranted for Virginia F Mike Scott, who bowled over four different Maryland defenders en route to a 25 point, seven rebound performance. Scott’s dominance of the Terrapins was perhaps “Plumlee-esque” Saturday. Consider that noted as well.

Sitting nearly an entire level away from the JPJ Arena floor, I started to wonder if the Maryland players had quit in the second half. For what it’s worth, the coach disagreed.

“We didn’t quit, we just hung our head. I wouldn’t say we quit, we just kind of felt sorry for ourselves and weren’t competing as hard as we can compete. I know it might have looked that way a little bit, but I don’t think we quit.”

Perhaps the players never actually quit, but it was a brutal effort that came at a time where it would be easy to see the team give up a bit. This is a difficult stretch for a Maryland team that has frankly overachieved with a thin roster. The players are smart enough to know that there’s no hope of a NCAA Tournament at-large bid and even slim NIT hopes aren’t enticing enough to maintain a high level of energy until March. The only tangible difference between winning and losing at this point is the reaction generated from coaches and fans.

When things aren’t going their way, it is understandable that players may be a little more willing to pack it in down the stretch. It’s not a condemnation of the collective heart of this group of players, it’s just more a look at reality for a team that is too thin in both quantity and quality.

It’s also not an excuse for poor effort down the stretch. Maryland’s second half performance was absolutely unacceptable even against a Virginia team in need of a strong effort to hold on their place in the nation’s Top 25. Things won’t necessarily get any easier for Maryland, as bubble dwelling Miami invades Comcast Center Tuesday and the final three games of the regular season include a return contest with Scott and the Cavaliers plus trips to North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

If Turgeon thought the stretch after the Puerto Rico trip was going to be a challenge, it would be hard to find the right word to describe the rest of the season.

The word is definitely not “easy”. That much I know.

-G

MARYLAND (15-10, 5-6) AT #22/22 VIRGINIA (19-6, 6-5)
Saturday, February 18, 2012 • 1 p.m. EST
Game #26 • Road Game #7 • Charlottesville, Va. • John Paul Jones Arena
Radio: Terrapin Sports Radio Network – Johnny Holliday (Play-by-Play), Chris Knoche (Analyst)
TV: ACC Network – Tim Brant (Play-by-Play), Cory Alexander (Analyst)-Locally on WNUV-TV.

• Maryland travels to Charlottesville for its first matchup of the season but the 176th all-time with Virginia, which is currently ranked 22nd in both polls. The Terps are tied with Clemson for seventh in the ACC with a 5-6 mark, just one game behind the fifth-place tie between the Cavaliers and Miami. Maryland and Virginia close the regular season on Sunday, March 4 at Comcast Center in a 2 p.m. matchup.
• Maryland scored its most lopsided victory of the season on Thursday in an 81-65 victory over Boston College. The Terrapins took control with a 14-0 run over a 2:45 stretch of the first half that gave Maryland an 18-10 lead. All 14 of those points were by sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin. The streak extended to a 29-4 run over 7:51 that put Maryland ahead 33-14 with 7:53 left before halftime. Stoglin had 19 of his game-high 24 in the first half.
• Stoglin set the sophomore record for 3-pointers in a season against BC, with his five giving him 68 for the year. Greivis Vasquez had 64 during the 2008 season for the record. Stoglin became the 16th Terrapin with 100 3-pointers in his career in that game and has tied Terence Morris (1995-99) for 15th on the all-time list with 101. Stoglin has accomplished that milestone in only 58 career games.
• Junior forward James Padgett came off the bench against BC for the first time in 14 games and played well. His 15 points (one off his career-high) came on near-perfect shooting, as he went 5-for-5 from the floor and 5-for-6 at the line. Padgett also had eight rebounds for the Terrapins.
• Maryland is in a tight stretch of quick turnarounds, with less than 48 hours between the BC and Virginia games. The Terps play three games in six days, including Tuesday’s home game with Miami.

Scouting the Cavaliers
• No. 22 Virginia enters Saturday’s game with a record of 19-6, including 6-5 in the ACC… However, the Cavaliers have dropped three of their last four and sit in a tie for fifth in the standings… Virginia is 12-1 at home with the lone blemish a 47-45 loss to Virginia Tech on Jan. 22.
• Senior forward Mike Scott, an ACC Player of the Year candidate, leads the team in scoring at 16.9 ppg, third in the league… He is also first in the conference in field-goal percentage (.596) and sixth in rebounding (8.2 rpg)… Sophomore guard Joe Harris is second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg)…. Junior guard Jontel Evans is fifth in the conference in both assists (3.7 apg) and steals (1.6 spg).
• Virginia is the top defensive team in the ACC… The Cavaliers are allowing a league-low 52.2 ppg… Opponents are shooting just 39.2 percent from the fl oor which ranks third in the ACC… The Cavaliers
also shoot the ball well, connecting on 46.1 percent of their field-goal attempts, fourth in the ACC
• Tony Bennett is in his third season as head coach… Prior to his stint there, he spent three seasons as head coach at Washington State, where he led the Cougars to two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Upcoming
Maryland has a little better than a 36-hour turnaround before its 1p.m. tipoff at Virginia on Saturday…The Terps then return home on Tuesday for their rematch against Miami (2/21)… Maryland has five
regular-season games on the schedule, two at home and three on the road… Of the five remaining, three are against nationally ranked teams, including the home-and-home with the Cavaliers.

BALTIMORE — To his credit, John Tillman said exactly what I probably would have in the same situation.

Following the University of Maryland’s heartbreaking 9-7 loss to the University of Virginia in the NCAA Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium, Tillman’s postgame comments were fair.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed for the 48 guys in our locker room ” the Terrapins’ head coach stated. “I couldn’t be more proud of the group that’s in there, not only as players but as people – the way they handled, really, the last 12 months. I’m just so disappointed for them. For all they’ve sacrificed – not only on the field and the time commitment, the things we’ve asked but for the way they’ve looked after each other. I think that’s probably the hardest thing is thinking about what they’ve invested and how they’ve done things.”

Tillman of course has every right to be proud, as his Terps reached Memorial Day for the first time since 1998, playing in the title game for only the 10th time in school history.

That being said, perhaps the comments of senior attackman Grant Catalino more appropriately reflected the emotions of Maryland fans throughout the region.

“Making the final was not our goal” said Catalino. “(Our goal) was to win it.”

It is important to point out the many good things that happened for the Maryland lacrosse team in 2011. In his first year since coming to College Park from Harvard, Tillman guided the Terps to their first Final Four since 2006. He claimed just the 5th ACC Tournament title in school history and beat all three other conference teams (Virginia, Duke and North Carolina) at least once during the campaign. By reaching the title game, he did something his predecessor (Dave Cottle) failed to do in nine seasons as head coach.

Frankly, the only things Tillman didn’t accomplish during his first season were a win over Johns Hopkins and a NCAA Championship.

Of course, those goals are probably the two Maryland fans are most desperate for.

The Terps should have an immediate bright future on the field, too. Despite losing senior contributors like Catalino, Attackmen Travis Reed & Ryan Young, Midfielders Dan Burns & Scott LaRue and Defenders Max Schmidt & Ryder Bohlander, they will return a talented team. Most notably, goalie Niko Amato will be just a sophomore and face-off specialist Curtis Holmes will be just a junior. Attackman Owen Blye will also just be a junior and will likely have the opportunity to see the team’s offense run through him.

Yet the reality is that despite the significant accomplishments of this Maryland team, the fact that they again fell short of claiming a NCAA Championship will leave an already fickle fan base even more frustrated.

There was a special amount of heartbreak in Monday’s game, as the game had the feel of a final title culmination for a long suffering program. In their last title game appearance (’98 at Rutgers), Maryland never showed any signs of life in a 15-5 blowout loss to Princeton. In their most recent trip to the Final Four (2006 in Philadelphia), the Terps looked particularly lethargic in an 8-5 loss to Massachusetts.

Monday’s game was much different than those.

Maryland lead for the bulk of the first two quarters before allowing the Cavaliers to score the final three goals of the first half and take a 5-3 lead. When things started to look bleak in the second half, the Terrapins put together a stretch of three unanswered goals to even things up at 6.

In front of a crowd of 35,561 fans that was predominantly made up of Maryland supporters, there was a real sense that “this team is different than those teams. This team can’t lose.”

Obviously that wasn’t the case. After tying things up, Maryland lost the next three face-offs. Virginia scored the next three goals. The Cavs whooped and hollered on the Charm City field when the clock read zero.

It was a feeling all too familiar for Maryland fans.

For Maryland lacrosse fans, a calendar is set by May heartbreak. Since defeating Navy in that 1975 title game, Maryland has lost NCAA Tournament games in seemingly every possible way. They’ve lost games as favorites. They’ve lost games as underdogs. They’ve lost games in blowout fashion. They’ve lost games that game down to the final possession. They’ve lost games where they blew big leads. They’ve lost games where they never had a lead.

The only type of game they haven’t experienced in the time period is a Memorial Day game that ended with a trophy hoisting.

It’s much too familiar.

Tillman will set about preparation to end the streak again in the Fall. Tillman made waves in his first offseason as head coach by installing new discipline-including early morning drills. He’ll likely continue those this Fall with the hopes that they can finally reach the Championship goals they rightly set for themselves every season.

For Maryland lacrosse fans, the offseason will be spent trying to look past another May heartbreak.

It won’t be easy. It never is.

-G

Here are the official recaps of Saturday’s college lacrosse action, courtesy of the schools’ Sports Information Departments…

JHU Cavaliers a 12-11 Win Over Second-Ranked Virginia

BALTIMORE, MD – A youth-filled Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team rode the emotion of a quick start to build an 8-3 lead against second-ranked Virginia early in the third quarter of Saturday’s showdown at Homewood Field. When the run by the senior-laden Cavaliers came – as everyone knew it would – many in the crowd of 3,200 figured the Blue Jays had given Virginia its best shot and the experienced Cavaliers would ride its momentum to victory.

A funny thing happened after the Cavaliers grabbed a 10-9 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter; it was the Blue Jays who responded, not just once but three times to grab a 12-11 victory that answered the question of how they would respond to last week’s 5-4 double-overtime loss at top-ranked Syracuse.

After Virginia’s Rob Emery capped a 7-1 Virginia run that turned the 8-3 deficit into the 10-9 lead with 9:17 remaining, the Blue Jays turned to sophomore Lee Coppersmith, who completed his first career hat trick with a bullet that beat Virginia goalie Adam Ghitelman upstairs. The Cavaliers answered with an unassisted goal by junior Steele Stanwick 62 seconds after Coppersmith’s strike, but that would be the last time Virginia would beat JHU goalie Pierce Bassett and the Blue Jays struck twice down the stretch off the creative play of freshman Rob Guida.

Guida needed less than a minute after Stanwick’s goal to pull the Blue Jays even at 11 as he spun past a defender 10 yards from the goal and fired home a left-handed shot that beat Ghitelman.

The Blue Jays failed to convert on an extra-man opportunity shortly after Guida’s goal, but scored what proved to be the game-winner with 1:39 remaining when Guida, working from the side of the net, slipped a nifty pass to the slot and senior Chris Boland one-timed it home to complete his hat trick.
Virginia won the ensuing faceoff and had possession in the Blue Jay zone for most of the final 85 seconds, but Bassett came up with one save and the Cavaliers couldn’t get off a final shot on a loose ball situation in front of the goal as the final horn sounded.

A late-game flurry didn’t look like it would be necessary early on as the Blue Jays jumped to a quick 2-0 lead on goals in unsettled situations by Chris Lightner and Phil Castronova. The 2-0 lead held until late in the first quarter, when JHU struck for goals by Mark Goodrich and John Greeley in a 66-span to double its lead to 4-0. Goodrich’s tally came with the extra man and the goose egg in the first quarter by Virginia marked the first time this season UVa failed to score in a quarter.

The Cavaliers finally broke through with an extra-man goal by Matt White with 9:28 remaining in the second quarter and the Cavs pulled were within 5-3 after a Boland tally was answered by back-to-back goals by Colin Briggs and Chris Bocklet midway through the quarter.

Coppersmith, who moved to the first midfield after Greeley left the game with an injury, struck for the first two of his three goals in a 69-span late in the period and the Blue Jays moved out to the 8-3 lead when Guida capped JHU’s first possession of the second half with the first of his two goals on the day.

When Boland answered back-to-back goals by Stanwick and John Haldy midway through the period the Blue Jays still led 9-5, but that’s when Virginia, the highest scoring team in the nation, answered – quickly.

Senior Shamel Bratton ignited a four-goal outburst that took all of 63 seconds as he scored with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter and Stanwick followed with a goal six seconds later off the ensuing faceoff. Emery added the first of his two goals 28 seconds after that and Bratton capped the flurry with his second goal of the day with 33 seconds remaining in the period to make it 9-9 at the end of the third quarter.

The scoring slowed early in the fourth quarter before Emery gave Virginia the 10-9 lead just under six minutes into the fourth quarter. That set the stage for a frantic final nine minutes, which saw Hopkins score three of the final four goals to secure the victory.

Boland led the Blue Jays with three goals and one assist, while Coppersmith added the three goals. Guida chipped in with the two goals and one assist and sophomore Zach Palmer added three assists for the Blue Jays, who also got 14 saves from Bassett and a 14-of-24 performance from senior Matt Dolente on faceoffs.

Stanwick paced all scorers in the game as he had three goals and four assists, but Virginia’s first midfield managed just three goals on 14 shots and only Bratton and Emery managed more than one goal for the Cavaliers, who were held scoreless for more than 20 minutes to open the game. The Cavaliers held slight advantages in shots (44) and ground balls (37-30) and Ghitelman posted nine saves.

Johns Hopkins, which snapped a six-game losing streak to Virginia, earned the Doyle Smith Cup with the victory. The Doyle Smith Cup is awarded annually to the winner of the Johns Hopkins-Virginia game in honor of Johns Hopkins graduate and longtime Virginia lacrosse media relations director Doyle Smith.

#2 Virginia (7-2) 0-3-6-2/11
#11 Johns Hopkins (6-2) 4-3-2-1/12

Goals: V: Stanwick-3, S. Bratton-2, Emery-2, White, Briggs, Bocklet, Haldy. J: Boland-3, Coppersmith-3, Guida-2, Goodrich, Greeley, Castronova, Lightner. Assists: V: Stanwick-4, O’Reilly-2, Ince, White. J: Palmer-3, Boland, Guida. Saves: V: Ghitelman-9. J: Bassett-14. Shots: V-44. J-42. EMO: J: 2-for-5. V: 2-for-2. Attendance: 3,200.

#8 Tar Heels Take #5 Terps, 11-6

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Senior Grant Catalino scored a hat trick for the No. 5 University of Maryland men’s lacrosse team, but it wasn’t enough as the Terps lost an 11-6 decision to No. 8 North Carolina Saturday afternoon at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.

Maryland (6-2, 0-2 ACC) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Tar Heels (7-2, 1-1 ACC) scored the next eight goals to take control of the game.

Sophomores Owen Blye and Landon Carr scored the game’s first two goals to give the Terps a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Catalino then scored back-to-back goals 11 seconds apart from one another to up the lead to 4-0.

Carolina got on the board with a goal by freshman Pat Foster, who was making his first career start, to make it a 4-1 game with 3:34 left in the first.

The Terps appeared to take a 5-1 lead with just over a minute left in the quarter when senior Ryan Young snagged an errant shot and quickly moved the ball on to sophomore John Haus, who one-timed it into the Carolina net. But the officials waived off the goal, saying a whistle was blown due to a loose-ball push on the Tar Heels prior to the shot.

Maryland took its 4-1 lead into the second quarter, but a random stick check between quarters proved to be a key moment in the game and swung momentum in favor of the Tar Heels. Officials selected Young for a random check between quarters and ruled his stick to be shorter than allowed by NCAA rules. Young was given a 3:00 non-releasable penalty to start the second quarter.

Carolina could only score once on the 3:00 penalty, but that proved to be the start of five unanswered goals in the second that gave UNC a 6-4 lead going into halftime.

Tar Heel freshman Nicky Glasso, who led all scorers with six points on two goals and four assists, upped Carolina’s lead to 8-4 to start the third quarter, scoring a goal and assisting on another.

Junior Joe Cummings finally put the Terps back on the board with his lone goal of the day with 9:44 remaining in the third. Cummings used a nice re-dodge to slip past two Tar Heel defenders before finally beating UNC goalie Steve Rastivo with a slick shot to make it an 8-5 game.

Maryland looked like it might have momentum back on its side, but Carolina’s Jimmy Dunster scored less than two minutes later to up UNC’s lead back to four.

The Tar Heel advantage grew to 10-5 on Foster’s third goal of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Maryland then had another goal taken off the board by the officials with 8:49 left in the fourth. Cummings scored on a nice shot from the left wing, but the officials waived off the goal due to a Carolina defender pushing a Terrapin player into the crease before the ball went into the net.

The Terps retained possession and did cut the Tar Heel lead back to four on Catalino’s third goal of the game, but three more minutes had ticked off the clock in the process.

Carolina was then able to kill some clock and eventually got an empty-net goal from Dunster to make it an 11-6 final.

One of the bright spots for the Terps was the play of sophomore face-off man Curtis Holmes, who won 15-of-20 face-offs, including 15-of-19 against Carolina freshman R.G. Keenan, who came into the game ranked ninth in the NCAA with a .645 winning percentage. Holmes also finished the game with a game-high six groundballs.

Senior defender Brett Schmidt also turned in a solid performance for Maryland, holding UNC senior All-American Billy Bitter, the 2010 ACC Player of the Year, without a point and limiting him to just three shots in the game. It is the second consecutive meeting between Maryland and North Carolina that Schmidt had held Bitter without a point.

Maryland closes out its regular-season ACC slate on Saturday, April 2, when it plays at No. 2 Virginia. The Terps and the Cavaliers are scheduled for a noon start at Scott Stadium. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

Game Notes:
• With today’s 11-6 loss Maryland is now 38-21 all-time vs. North Carolina.
• With three points on three goals, senior Grant Catalino now has 13 hat tricks, 42 multi-point and 33 multi-goal games for his career.
• Catalino’s three goals give him 106 for his career, moving him past Bill Pettit (103, 1962-64) for sole-possession of 10th place on the school’s all-time goals list.
• Catalino’s three points gives him 168 for his career. He needs four more to tie Mike Mollott (172, 2000-03) for 15th place on the Terps’ all-time points list.
• Senior Ryan Young’s one assist gives him 80 for his career, moving him into a tie with Brendan Hanley (1985-88) for 15th place on the Terps’ all-time assists list.

Tigers Fall in CAA Opener at Delaware, 8-7
NEWARK, Del. – Despite two goals from senior midfielder Pat Britton, the Tigers (2-5, 0-1) were unable to hold off defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Delaware (6-3, 1-0) as the Blue Hens rallied to post an 8-7 victory in the Tigers’ CAA opener at Delaware Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Junior attackman Eric Smith scored the game-winning goal with 4:29 remaining in the fourth quarter as the Blue Hens overcame a 5-0 first quarter deficit to earn their second straight win. Smith, who scored two goals in the win, took a pass from junior defenseman Taylor Burns and scored past senior goalkeeper Travis Love to give Delaware an 8-7 lead before the Blue Hens held off a late Tiger rally.

Led by two goals each from Britton and senior attackman Tim Stratton, the Tigers jumped out to a commanding 5-0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game.

But, the Blue Hens answered with a four-goal run of their own to end the first quarter and trim the deficit to 5-4. Junior attackman Grant Kaleikau scored a goal with an assist during the run for the Blue Hens.

After sophomore attackman Matt Hughes upped the Tigers’ lead to 6-4 just 35 seconds into the second quarter, the Blue Hens scored back-to-back goals from junior attackman Sean Finegan and sophomore midfielder John Mills to even the score at 6-6 at the intermission.

Following a scoreless third quarter, junior midfielder Carl Iacona regained the Tigers’ advantage when he scored his third goal of the year, an unassisted marker past senior goalkeeper Noah Fossner with 13:21 left in regulation.

But, the Blue Hens answered with a pair of goals to take a one-goal lead. Before Smith tallied the game-winning goal, senior midfielder Kevin Kaminski scored his sixth goal of the season with an unassisted marker to tie the game with 11:11 left.

Smith and Finegan each scored two goals to lead the Blue Hens while Kaleikau added a goal with two assists. Fossner made 10 saves for Delaware, which outshot Towson by a 29-27 margin.

Hughes and Stratton each scored two goals with one assist in a losing effort for the Tigers while Love made nine saves.

The Tigers will return to Johnny Unitas® Stadium next Saturday afternoon to host eighth-ranked Hofstra in a Colonial Athletic Association game at noon. Meanwhile, the Blue Hens will travel to Drexel next Saturday.

Post-Game Notes
- The Tigers and the Blue Hens met for the 52nd time in the all-time series on Saturday … Delaware has won two straight games in the series, but the Tigers still hold a 35-17 advantage.
- Despite the loss, the Tigers have won six of the last ten meetings against Delaware.
- Each of the last eight games in the Towson-Delaware series have been decided by three goals or less … Of the last 20 games between the two long-time rivals, 17 of them have been decided by four goals or less.
- The Tigers held Delaware scoreless in the third quarter, marking the fifth time in seven games that Towson has not allowed a goal in the third quarter … Towson has outscored its opponents by a 9-6 margin in the third quarter this year.
- Hughes has scored a goal in each of his last three games … He also has a point in 10 straight games.
- Hughes has scored the Tigers’ first goal of the game three times this year.
- With his two-goal effort on Saturday, Britton has now scored a goal in four consecutive games … He also has a point in eight straight games.
- Britton tallied his ninth career multi-goal game with the two goals against Delaware.
- After not scoring in the Tigers’ first five games, Stratton has scored three goals in the last two games … He also posted his 12th career multi-goal game and 30th career multi-point game.
- With an assist in the first quarter on Saturday, senior midfielder Elliott Domanic tallied his first point since May 2, 2009 against Villanova.
- Kaminski scored the 50th goal of his college career in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

Strong Second Half Lifts Loyola Over The Mount

EMMITSBURG, Md. – Loyola University Maryland senior Matt Langan scored two goals and had three assists, all in the second half, as the Greyhounds rallied from a 4-2 halftime deficit to defeat host Mount St. Mary’s, 14-10, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium.

The Greyhounds (4-3 overall) scored four goals in the first 5-minutes, 27-seconds of the second half, including two by Patrick Fanshaw, to go up 6-4.

Mount St. Mary’s (3-4) eventually tied the game at 9-9 on a man-up goal by Bryant Schmidt with 10:30 left in regulation, but Loyola scored five of the game’s last six goals to secure the win.

“Our challenge to the guys at halftime was to be physical and first to the ball, make sure that we were winning all of the loose balls,” Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey said. “I think we were able to do that, especially with our wings on the face-offs. We knew that the face-offs were going to be physical battles, so we had to make sure that our wings were getting to them.”

Loyola, which won just 2-of-8 face-offs in the first half, gained possession on the opening salvo at the `X’ by John Schiavone. The Greyhounds were able to convert the win into a goal 1:27 later as Davis Butts rolled toward the goal after setting a screen for Mike Sawyer, took Sawyer’s pass and in one motion shot from the left side to cut Mount St. Mary’s lead to 4-3.

Schiavone won possession on the ensuing face-off, and after Brian Smalley drew a penalty on The Mount’s Kevin Downs, Loyola scored its first extra-man goal of the afternoon. Fanshaw took a Langan pass and beat Mountaineers’ goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo from in front of the crease for his second goal of the day.

Another Mount penalty led to Loyola’s third goal of the third quarter, this time Fanshaw took a Chris Basler pass and scored, giving the Greyhounds a 5-4 advantage with 10:46 to play in the frame.Loyola extended that lead just over a minute later, as close defender Reid Acton cleared the ball himself from the defensive end, stepped unmarked into the box and one-hopped a shot in front of DiBartolo to score his first career goal with 9:33 on the clock.

An Andrew Scalley goal 1:20 later stopped the Greyhounds’ run, but the teams traded goals back-and-forth until the end of the quarter. Scalley scored again – he had a game-high four goals – with 15 ticks left before the end of the third to make it 8-7 Loyola going into the final 15 minutes.

The Mountaineers tied it up at 8-8 and eventually 9-9 with 10:30 remaining in regulation on Schmidt’s extra-man goal.

Loyola went back up by two, however, within five minutes. Chris Palmer, who scored his first goal of the season earlier in the fourth quarter, took a Langan pass and gave the Greyhounds the lead for good with eight minutes even left.

Langan then hit Basler with a pass on the doorstep, and the graduate student one-timed a shot into the net for an 11-9 Loyola lead.

Scalley scored his fourth of the game with 5:22 to play, but Langan tallied a man-down goal – Loyola’s second of the game and third in two weeks – with 4:53 remaining. Mike Sawyer added an extra-man goal 1:25 later on a Basler assist, and Langan tallied his second with 1:46 remaining.

Loyola outshot the Mountaineers, 34-28, and the Greyhounds put 24 of those shots on goal. The Greyhounds also held a 31-26 advantage in ground balls, 11-2 in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Langan’s two goals and three assists, Fanshaw had three goals and an assist. Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff scored a career-high three points with a goal and two assists in unsettled situations, and he had a game- and career-high six ground balls.

Mount St. Mary’s got on the board first, just over four minutes into the game as Brett Schmidt curled from around the crease to score with 10:53 to play in the first quarter.

Sawyer evened the game at 1-1 6:20 later, taking a Ratliff pass in transition and burying a shot from 12 yards out.

Loyola scored again in an unsettled situation, after Ratliff picked up the ground ball following a protracted face-off win by J.P. Dalton, dishing a pass off to Fanshaw who used a stick fake to beat DiBartolo and give the Greyhounds a 2-1 advantage 32 ticks into the second quarter.

The Mount, however, scored three unanswered to end the first half, going up 4-2 when Bryant Schmidt scored from the left side with 26 seconds left in the second quarter.

Loyola returns to ECAC Lacrosse League action next Saturday when it travels to Columbus, Ohio, to face Ohio State at 1 o’clock.

McCullough’s 13 Saves Pace UMBC in Come-From-Behind Victory Over Quinnipiac

BALTIMORE – UMBC junior goalkeeper Brian McCullough (Garden City, N.Y.) returned to the UMBC nets and made 13 saves, leading the Retrievers to a 9-7 victory over Quinnipiac in a non-conference match-up at UMBC Stadium.

The Retrievers snapped a four-game slide, while the Bobcats dropped their second consecutive contest, both to America East squads. Both teams are now 2-4 on the campaign.

UMBC was led offensively by sophomore attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) who scored a pair of goals and added an assist. Sophomore midfielder Scott Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) added two goals, while junior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y.) chipped in with three assists.

Quinnipiac was led by senior attackman Jack Oppenheimer, who scored a pair of goals and added a helper.

UMBC tied the score at 5-all, 6-all and 7-all in the fourth quarter, forging the last tie on a high, hard shot by sophomore midfielder Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa.) with 7:19 remaining. Ten seconds later, Quinnipiac midfielder Matt Minor was flagged for an illegal body check, giving UMBC its third man-up opportunity of the game. Jones made an excellent skip pass to the weak side and Hopmann hard bounce shot beat QU netminder Kevin Benzing at the 6:23 mark, giving the Retrievers their first lead since 1-0 in the first 74 seconds of play.

Jones then became the first Retriever to hit the 10-goal mark on the season, giving UMBC an insurance marker as he made an acrobatic catch of a Grimm pass and fired in a shot from close range with 3:16 to play.

McCullough then came up with two saves in the final minute to seal the victory for the Retrievers. He started the first three games for UMBC, but suffered a broken thumb during his 14-save effort in a 13-9 loss at North Carolina. Sophomore Adam Cohen (Arnold, Md./The Severn School) started in losses to Johns Hopkins and Maryland, but McCullough got the nod and evened his season mark at 2-2 with the victory.

The Retrievers had to come from four goals down to prevail in the contest. Jones scored on a quick shot inside off a Grimm feed just 1:14 into the contest, but the Bobcats won the ensuing draw and equalized the score on a goal by Christian Haggerty six seconds later. That started a 5-0 run by the visitors, which was capped by an Oppenheimer score at the 6:50 mark of the second quarter.

UMBC trimmed the gap to 5-3 at halftime and came within a goal after 45 minutes as Hopmann broke an 18-minute scoring drought by both teams with an unassisted score with 1:05 to play in the stanza.

The Retrievers matched their season high for goals in a quarter with five in the final stanza.

Quinnipiac outshot UMBC, 34-25 and had a 31-28 edge in ground balls. UMBC was sparked by the efforts of freshman midfielder Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha), who won seven of 11 face-offs and led UMBC to an 11-8 advantage on draws.

UMBC also snapped a seven-game home losing streak, which came on the heels on a 29-5 advantage at UMBC Stadium from 2006-09.

Sophomore midfielder Neill Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) added a goal and an assist for UMBC, while junior defender Tim Shaeffer (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) scored his first collegiate goal in the second quarter.

Benzing, who attended Mt. St. Joseph HS, made a pair of saves in a return to the area.

UMBC opens America East Conference play on Friday, April 1 when they travel to Stony Brook to take on the 2010 NCAA quarterfinalist Stony Brook Seawolves. The opening draw is set for 7:00 p.m.

Colgate’s Stifling Defense Stops Mids, 5-4

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —The Navy men’s lacrosse team (4-5, 2-3 Patriot League) scored the game’s first-two goals, but scoreless lulls of 21 and 31 minutes in the first and second halves, respectively, allowed Colgate (6-3, 2-0 Patriot League) to score a 5-4 win over the Mids and snap Navy’s three-game winning streak.  Colgate, the only Patriot League foe who has beaten the Mids on their home field since Navy joined the league in 2004, has now won two in a row against the Mids at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Navy jumped out to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals within a minute of one another by senior midfielder Kevin Doyle (Towson, Md.) (8:09), followed by a speed dodge goal by Nikk Davis (Cockeysville, Md.) (7:15).

While the Mids looked to have the game well in hand, they were dealt a blow when senior midfielder Andy Warner (Corning, N.Y.) got tangled up with a Colgate player and Warner suffered a blow to the head.  For precautionary reasons, Warner was held out of competition for roughly 15 minutes of game play.  Although Warner did return to the game midway through the second quarter, Navy’s offense never seemed to get the swagger back in its step.

In fact, Colgate rattled off three-straight goals to take a 3-2 advantage with 5:15 to play in the opening half.  Rookie midfielder Jimmy Ryan kicked off the run with a left alley dodge past Navy defensive midfielder Jordan Seivold (Minnetonka, Minn.), sending his shot from 10 yards out past Navy keeper RJ Wickham (Penn Yan, N.Y.) with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.  Faceoff specialist Jim Carroll won the faceoff to open the second frame and found the nation’s sixth-ranked goal scorer Peter Baum for the equalizer at 14:54.  The Raiders took the lead with 5:15 remaining in the second when Warner’s errant pass was picked up by Colgate defenseman Greg Perkins and off to the races they went.  The Navy turnover led to one of three transition goals by Colgate, this one by long pole Dave Tucciarone.

The Mids finally got themselves back on the scoreboard when Warner found freshman attackman Tucker Hull (Charlotte, N.C.) for a five-yard shot just to the right of the goal at the 1:12 mark.  The assist by Warner extended his point scoring streak to 21-straight games dating back to last year’s Lehigh contest.

Navy’s efforts were short-lived, however, as Carroll won the ensuing faceoff for the Raiders and got the ball to senior middie Rob Bosco.  Filling the middle, Bosco passed the ball off to Baum on the left wing, who fired off a shot that appeared to hit defenseman Michael Hirsch (Schwenksville, Pa.) before taking a hop and finding its way into the goal with 1:01 left to take a 3-2 advantage going into halftime.

The third quarter featured several shots that would never find the back of the net until the 4:30 mark when the Raiders perfectly executed their transition game that resulted in a Ben McCabe goal from roughly seven yards out and extended their lead to 5-3.

After barraging Colgate keeper Jared Madison with 11 shots over the final 2:19 of the game, the Mids finally were able to get within one.  But the eight-yard unassisted goal by junior attackman Taylor Reynolds (Babylon, N.Y.) came too late for the Mids, as he scored with just two ticks left in the contest.

The stats were virtually even from category to category with Navy outshooting the Raiders, 31-26 and holding a 30-28 advantage in ground balls.  Colgate won seven faceoffs to Navy’s six, while Navy turned the ball over 17 times and Colgate recorded 14 turnovers.

Navy’s defensive put together what Meade called its best effort of the year on the heels of just a three-goal effort by Holy Cross a week ago.  Remarkably, it’s just the second time in the last eight seasons that Navy has been tripped up when holding an opponent to six or fewer goals (53-2).

Wickham, who had a solid performance between the pipes for the Mids with nine stops, became just the 12th player in program history to reach the 300-save milestone.  He stands 12th on the Mids’ all-time saves list with 306.

Hirsch played a spectacular game where he was paired up against Baum.  While Baum did score two goals, both were off unsettled situations following faceoff wins by the Raiders.  Hirsch closed out the game with a career-high six caused turnovers.

“I’m encouraged that we played so well defensively, but I’m also disappointed because our defense was stellar and our offense could not match that performance today,” said Navy head coach Richie Meade.  “Offensively we just didn’t get the job done.  We had opportunities to shoot and didn’t.  Colgate did a good job of packing it in and did a good job inside of tying us up.  But it wasn’t anything we weren’t expecting.  We talked about it all week.  we were in position to shoot a bunch of times and didn’t pull the trigger.”

On the flip side, Colgate’s defense held Navy, one of the most proficient and prolific offensive units in the country this season, to a season-low four goals.  The Mids came into the contest averaging 11.00 goals per game and were ranked fifth nationally in shot percentage.

“It was the first time this year that I thought our offense played young,” added Meade.  “I’m in no way making an excuse for us, but we just made poor decisions at times and we really needed someone to step up.  I thought we played extremely tight.  Perhaps Andy getting hurt early put us out of sync, but at the end of the day we just didn’t shoot.”

Navy returns to action next Friday when it travels to the nation’s capital to face Georgetown.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Minutes after Maryland’s regular season concluded with a third straight loss, Gary Williams offered a remark that could summarize his team’s entire season.

“Close doesn’t count, especially this time of year. You have to figure out a way to win those games.”

It’s a mantra that rings true for a team that’s failed to close out victories against top opponents and to complete comeback efforts on several occasions.

It’s the reality the Terps now face, needing to win four straight in the conference tournament as their only means to make the NCAA tournament.

Continuing their late-season collapse, the Terps fell to Virginia, 74-60, in a game controlled by the Cavaliers all afternoon on Maryland’s Senior Day. The loss leaves Maryland (18-13, 7-9 ACC) with a three-game losing streak to finish the regular season for the first time since 2005 and Williams to search for answers before the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. next weekend.

The Cavaliers (16-14, 7-9 ACC) slowed the tempo to their liking, turning it over just six times as Maryland’s full-court pressure failed to produce any points off turnovers. Virginia received career-high performances by junior center Assane Sene (15 points) and junior guard Sammy Zeglinski, who torched the Terps for 25 points on six 3-pointers. The pair combined for eight points in the teams’ first meeting, a 66-42 Maryland victory in Charlottesville on Jan. 27.

Virginia’s 8-for-17 performance from beyond the arc continued a disturbing trend for the Maryland perimeter defense that allowed wide-open looks to Zeglinski all afternoon.

“They did a better job of running their offense as opposed to us,” Williams said. “There’s no excuses in a situation like that.”

Even so, the Terps found themselves in a familiar position to what they faced at Miami on Wednesday, using an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 63-58 with 5:12 remaining. However, Maryland could get no closer, scoring just two points the rest of the way as Virginia finished the afternoon with a 9-0 run to beat the Terps at Comcast Center for the first time since 2007.

Maryland shot just 37.5 percent in the second half, scoring 27 points in its attempt to erase a 37-33 halftime deficit. Williams pointed to missed shots in the paint when the gap was narrowed, allowing Tony Bennett’s squad to regain control down the stretch.

“It was close and then they pulled away, and then we had to fight back,” said Jordan Williams, who led the team with 17 points and six rebounds. “It was an uphill battle all night. We kind of just let them play with us early. We should have just taken them out of the game at the beginning, but we didn’t do that.”

The Maryland coach’s frustration level bubbled over in the second half when he drew his first technical foul in over two years. At one point, Williams sent the unconventional lineup of Dino Gregory, Pe’Shon Howard, Mychal Parker, Hawk Palsoon, and Berend Weijs to the floor in the second half, looking for the spark his regular rotation was not providing.

The Terps did get closer, but not close enough, as Gary Williams put it so bluntly.

After meek losses to Miami and Virginia, he’s looking for answers in every nook and cranny. And finding none.

“Monday’s practice will be interesting in terms of trying to find the right guys to go down there and represent us in the ACC tournament,” Williams said.

It’s the type of comment you expect to hear at the start of the season — not in March.

Maryland will now attempt to become the first team to win four straight in the ACC tournament since it was expanded to the current format in 2005. The Terps will play as the seventh seed in Greensboro should Miami fall at Georgia Tech on Sunday; Maryland falls to eighth if the Hurricanes defeat the Yellow Jackets.

In a down year for the ACC, it shows just how far the Terps have fallen from a year ago when they shared the regular season title with Duke and were led by ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez. Unlike the Baltimore native Gregory, who’s been one of the few pleasant surprises in an otherwise disappointing year, the senior backcourt of Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker failed to elevate their respective games nearly enough to put the Terps in a position to make it back to the Big Dance.

Senior Day was a painful conclusion, as the two combined for just 10 points while Gregory had 15 to continue his strong play down the stretch.

Unfortunately, it’s a senior class that will go down as one of the most disappointing of the Gary Williams era, with only Gregory raising his play substantially during his time in College Park. When you consider forwards Braxton Dupree (transferred to Towson) and Shane Walker (Loyola) had already left the program, the recruiting class of 2007 appears even more critical to the team’s downfall in 2011.

Gary Williams and the Terps will try to make the best of their trip to the Greensboro Coliseum, stating they expect to make noise in Greensboro and knowing their only option is to win four in a row.

But their recent play resembles a group that will struggle to survive Thursday’s first-round match-up, much less make it to Championship Sunday.

“We’re struggling right now, but next week I think it’s going to be a whole different team,” freshman Pe’Shon Howard said. “I think we’re going to do well in the ACC tournament.”

Valiant words, but it’s been the same result all season.

Close, but no cigar.

Why would it change now?