Blue Hens

[UPDATE: A quote was attributed to the wrong person in an earlier version. The Sun regrets the error.] Reigning national champion Loyola will meet Towson Wednesday night and No. 3 Maryland Saturday without Josh Hawkins for at least one game. The senior short-stick defensive midfielder, who was named a preseason All American, did not play in the No. 1 Greyhounds' 9-8 win against Delaware last Saturday. Coach Charley Toomey said he doesn't anticipate that Hawkins will play Wednesday and that his status for Saturday's contest is uncertain.

Junior midfielder Rhiannon Coogle (North Harford) scored a career-high six goals to lead the Towson women's lacrosse team to a 14-9 win at Delaware on Sunday afternoon in their Colonial Athletic Association opener. The Tigers (2-7, 1-0) ended a five-game losing streak with the win and now have won 13 straight CAA regular-season games dating to the 2011 season. Delaware (6-4, 0-1) opened the game hot, scoring five of the game's first seven goals. But Towson opened the second half on a 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead with 20:54 to play.

No. 5 Johns Hopkins scored the first three goals of the third quarter to turn a close game into a rout, as the host Blue Jays defeated No. 18 Delaware, 15-7, Tuesday night at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays (2-0), who led 7-4 at the half, scored three goals in the first six minutes of the third quarter and were up 10-5 entering the fourth. Combined with a drought in the final six minutes of the second quarter, Delaware went 18 minutes, 5 seconds without a goal. The Blue Hens (2-1)

Jasmine James scored 16 points and fourth-seeded Georgia rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to defeat top-seeded Stanford, 61-59, in an NCAA tournament regional semifinal in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday night. Jasmine Hassell and Tiaria Griffin contributed 13 points apiece, Shacobia Barbee grabbed 12 rebounds and Anne Marie Armstrong finished with 10 boards for the Bulldogs (28-6), who will play second-seeded California or sixth-seeded LSU in the Elite Eight on Monday. Chiney Ogwumike had 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Cardinal (33-3)

Most of the current Navy starters were not on the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium the last time the Midshipmen played Delaware. That was in 2009, when the home team turned a three-point lead early in the fourth quarter into a deceptive 35-18 victory. Nearly every Navy player was either in high school or attending the academy's prep school back in 2007, when a then-relatively unknown Joe Flacco led the Blue Hens to a wild 59-52 win by scoring at will in the second half.

No. 5 Johns Hopkins scored the first three goals of the third quarter to turn a close game into a rout as the Blue Jays defeated No. 18 Delaware, 15-7, Tuesday night at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays (2-0) led 7-4 at the half, and then went on a three-goal barrage in the first six minutes of the third period for a 10-5 lead at the end of the quarter. During that time, and combined with a drought in the final six minutes of the second quarter, Delaware went 18 minutes and five seconds without a goal.

John Grant and Dennis DeBusschere each scored four goals to lead 10th-ranked Delaware to a 14-9 victory over host Mount St. Mary's in men's college lacrosse action yesterday.Delaware (5-0) built a 7-4 advantage at the half, and went on a 4-1 run to start the second half, including goals just 14 seconds apart by Jason Lavey and Grant, to take an 11-5 lead with 6: 18 left in the third quarter. Steve Ricker scored three goals for the Mount.Swarthmore 12, Goucher 11: Adam Dickinson and Mark Dingfield combined for eight goals to power the Garnet (2-4)

DAYTON, Ohio -- As the players on the Delaware basketball team left the court yesterday at the University of Dayton Arena, junior guard Ricky Deadwyler looked right into a television camera following their exit."

NEWARK, Del. -- Delaware senior faceoff specialist Alex Smith was sorting through his euphoric thoughts Sunday night, hours after the Blue Hens eliminated UMBC to keep this crazy journey going. It still didn't seem real to the Boys' Latin graduate or his teammates. Delaware, which six weeks earlier was in the throes of a losing streak and on postseason life-support, suddenly had turned the Division I men's lacrosse world on its ear. Next stop, an unprecedented trip to the NCAA final four at M&T Bank Stadium, where about 60,000 fans are expected Saturday to watch the Blue Hens try to do the unthinkable again, this time against Johns Hopkins.

The America East women's lacrosse tournament championship game changed drastically yesterday when Delaware senior midfielder Liza Shoemaker began taking the draws against Towson University at Minnegan Stadium.The 12th-ranked Blue Hens were trailing the unranked Tigers (8-9) by one goal with 26: 47 left in the game when Shoemaker took her first draw. By the time the former Garrison Forest School standout took her final draw, Delaware (14-4) had wrapped up a 17-9 victory with nine straight goals to complete a 10-0 game-ending run.Shoemaker not only drew lavish praise from her teammates and coach Denise Wescott, but she walked off the field with the Most Outstanding Player award in the two-day tournament.

After opening the season with a 23-6 loss to No. 3 Maryland, Mount St. Mary's has scored back-to-back victories over then-No. 17 Bucknell and Delaware. So what has changed? Not much, according to coach Tom Gravante. “I think my staff and I knew that we were capable of beating these teams,” he said Monday morning. “I'll always go back to the stat sheet, and there are certain stats that you have to win or at least go 50 percent on, and we knew they were capable. At Maryland [on Feb. 12]

After scoring just nine goals in a one-goal win against Delaware in last Saturday's season opener, top-ranked Loyola returned to last season's form - that same form that brought the university its first Division I national championship - in Wednesday night's 14-9 victory over host Towson. Four of those 14 goals came from the team's man-up unit, which was awarded five opportunities against the Tigers. It was a welcome departure from the 9-8 decision against the Blue Hens when the Greyhounds failed to score on two extra-man chances.

Tom Gravante was understandably concerned about how Mount St. Mary's would play after absorbing a humiliating 23-6 loss to No. 3 Maryland in the season opener for both teams a week ago. Thankfully, the head coach was delighted with what he witnessed during the Mountaineers' 12-11 upset of then-No. 18 Bucknell on Sunday. That victory helped assuage some of the aftertaste lingering from the setback to the Terps. “They responded in practice, they rebounded,” Gravante said Tuesday morning.

[UPDATE: A quote was attributed to the wrong person in an earlier version. The Sun regrets the error.] Reigning national champion Loyola will meet Towson Wednesday night and No. 3 Maryland Saturday without Josh Hawkins for at least one game. The senior short-stick defensive midfielder, who was named a preseason All American, did not play in the No. 1 Greyhounds' 9-8 win against Delaware last Saturday. Coach Charley Toomey said he doesn't anticipate that Hawkins will play Wednesday and that his status for Saturday's contest is uncertain.

  Chris Layne took the ball after a Loyola timeout, dodged down the middle of the field and sent a high-to-low shot into the right side of the net with 4.4 seconds left to propel the top-ranked Greyhounds to a season-opening 9-8 win over host Delaware (1-2) on Saturday. Loyola was up 7-4 before the Blue Hens scored three goals in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, tying the game. The Greyhounds responded with 8:20 remaining as Sean O'Sullivan scored from 6 yards out. Delaware drew a flag on Loyola with just over a minute to play and tied the game with 26 seconds left.

Loyola's quest to repeat as national champion begins with a road trip this Saturday to an opponent that has already played two games. Delaware is 1-1, following a season-opening 12-10 win against High Point with a 9-8 loss to No. 17 Bucknell. But more than the Blue Hens' record, Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey is leery about Delaware's head start. “The thing we're always concerned about when we open up with Delaware is that they've got a couple games under their belt,” he said Thursday morning.

Here's the scenario: Navy is winless and coming off a much-needed week off following a loss to Air Force. For homecoming, the Midshipmen will face a nationally ranked, once-beaten Delaware team that is coming off a huge victory over previously unbeaten Division I-AA powerhouse Villanova.Sound familiar?It should, because when Navy (0-5) meets Delaware (5-1, No. 7 in the Division I-AA polls) at 1:30 p.m. today at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the teams will be playing under nearly identical circumstances as their meeting a year ago.Then, Navy entered the game 0-6 and built a 25-7 halftime lead.

NEWARK, Del. -- His team had just beaten Towson State for the second time in four days, but Delaware coach Mike Brey stood outside the locker room last week and voiced his concerns about a third straight meeting in the opening round of the North Atlantic Conference tournament.The Tigers' backcourt worried him, he said. So did their size up front. He even conceded that they had more talent.Seeded fifth and playing on Delaware's home floor, Towson State went out yesterday and proved Brey right.

The Towson men's basketball team might have pieced together its most impressive performance all season while throttling UNC Wilmington on Monday. The Tigers went out Wednesday and looked even better. Jerrelle Benimon scored 21 points as Towson blasted Delaware, 85-65, to complete a season sweep of the Blue Hens before an announced 2,409 at Towson Center. "We've played the best we have all year for 40 minutes," coach Pat Skerry said. It stemmed from Towson's efficiency on offense as it rolled up back-to-back 80-point outings for the first time since late in the 2009-10 season.

Towson scored eight consecutive points late in the game and held on to end host Delaware's five-game winning streak with a 69-66 Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball victory Wednesday night at Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del. Jerrelle Benimon, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Tigers (9-9, 4-1 CAA), recording his nation-leading 12th doubledouble of the season. Devon Saddler (Aberdeen) and Jamelle Hagins each scored 16 points, and Jarvis Threatt added 12 for the Blue Hens.