College Park

The NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament will be missing Johns Hopkins for the first time in 42 years this season. After a 9-5 season, the Blue Jays were left out of the NCAA Tournament tonight. But three local teams will be playing next weekend. Maryland is the No. 6 seed and will face Cornell Sunday at 1 p.m. in College Park. Towson, the winner of the CAA tournament, will face No. 3 seed Ohio State Sunday at 3 p.m. in Columbus. Defending national champion Loyola will face Duke in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. The lack of quality wins hurt Johns Hopkins this season.

Oriole Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. drew a laugh Sunday during his commencement address at the University of Maryland, College Park when he noted his wife, Kelly, graduated from the university, "although she will not allow me to reveal the year. " Dressed in a black robe and glasses, Ripken paused, leaned into the microphone carefully and said in a stage whisper, "1981. " The Comcast Center was packed to the rafters with family, friends and members of the Class of 2013. More than 7,700 students received degrees - although not at the campus-wide ceremony.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Maryland, College Park were again listed among the nation's top up-and-coming schools in annual rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report. Most of the state's colleges and universities retained similar spots in the oft-cited, oft-criticized rankings, with the Johns Hopkins University finishing No. 13 among national universities for a second straight year. College Park jumped a spot to No. 55 among national universities and appeared on lists of schools with top-notch undergraduate experiences in areas such as business education, service learning, internships and freshman seminars.

Ohio State's Greg Dutton did not get to watch the entirety of Cornell's 16-8 upset of sixth-seeded Maryland in a NCAA tournament first-round game last Sunday. But the junior goalkeeper watched the film, and fifth-year senior attackman Rob Pannell's four-goal, three-assist performance was no less impressive a day or two after the fact. “Rob Pannell is a great player, and he's been a great player there for four years,” said Dutton, a Timonium native and Calvert Hall graduate. “He's probably one of the best players to ever play Division I lacrosse.

The Junior Tennis Champions Center at College Park aims to offer the young athletes it trains a chance to become just that - champions. While by definition it's a regional training center, Patrick McEnroe, general manager of player development for the United States Tennis Association, calls it "national in its own scope" and says it's "one of the biggest and one of the best. " The Tennis Center at College Park is the site of the Citi Open, a WTA international women's professional tennis tournament that begins Saturday and runs through July 31. But for much of the year the facility's main focus is on buiding future professionals.

A week ago, the thought was that Ohio State -- despite knocking off 2012 national champion Loyola and Denver to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament -- was overvalued as the third seed in the NCAA tournament. Despite a convincing 16-6 victory over Towson in the first round, the Buckeyes are viewed as underdogs. That has to do with Ohio State (13-3) meeting Cornell (13-3) in the first game of Saturday's quarterfinals at Byrd Stadium in College Park. The Big Red are unseeded, but after walloping sixth-seeded Maryland, 16-8, last Sunday, many pundits and fans insist that Cornell will be the first team to advance to the national semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia next weekend.

COLLEGE PARK - The attorney representing the mother of Duke men's basketball player Carlos Boozer is requesting compensation from the University of Maryland for injuries suffered by Renee Boozer during an incident after Duke's recent, 98-96, overtime victory over Maryland at Cole Field House. James Curtain, a Juneau, Alaska-based attorney, has yet to file a formal lawsuit in the matter. According to school sources, Curtain sent a letter to Susan Bayly, the University of Maryland's general counsel, in which Curtain said Maryland should compensate Mrs. Boozer for her medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, and general pain and suffering.

COLLEGE PARK -- Junior receiver Frank Wycheck, Maryland's career leader in receptions, said yesterday that he will forgo his senior season of eligibility and enter the NFL draft in April.Wycheck said he had been thinking about leaving Maryland since the end of his sophomore year. He said his final decision largely was based on the lack of playing time this season, and improving his family's financial situation. Wycheck has an 18-month-old daughter, Deanna."This wasn't a snap decision, one that was made from ignorance, greed or hard feelings toward Maryland or Coach Duffner," said Wycheck, who met with Maryland coach Mark Duffner for nearly 90 minutes yesterday.

NFL union leader DeMaurice Smith apparently didn't read about the Mount Royal Tavern "Cuss Bucket," in your recent article ("Time for a little gosh-darned civility," May 17) since he told University of Maryland graduates, "For anyone who believes passion is cheap and futile I have two words for you: You suck" ("Sports takes the stage at College Park graduation," May 20). What a cheap, futile and ugly way to express an opinion. I recommend Mr. Smith consider dropping a couple of dollars into the University's cuss bucket or any of the sports programs that could use some funds.

Johns Hopkins University's medical school fell one spot to No. 3 in the nation, while its education school rose to No. 2, according to the latest U.S. News and World Report graduate school rankings. The medical school ranked behind those of Harvard University and Stanford University among the top institutions for medical research. University of Maryland School of Medicine ranked No. 37. Other Maryland institutions to rank among the top 10 in their disciplines were the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Francis King Carey School of Law's part-time program, the University of Maryland, College Park's library sciences school, Johns Hopkins' public health and nursing schools and the Maryland Institute College of Art 's fine arts program.

Yale goalie Eric Natale doesn't want his dream to become a nightmare. During most of his childhood days while playing for the Gamber recreation program in Westminster, he dreamed of playing in a NCAA Division I tournament game against one of the top teams in the country. He gets to live that out at 3 p.m. Saturday at Byrd Stadium when unseeded Yale (12-4) plays No. 1 Syracuse (14-3) in the NCAA Division I lacrosse quarterfinals. When it comes to offense, there are few teams that can match the Orange, which has five players with more than 30 points - midfielders JoJo Marasco (19, goals, 36 assists)

A week ago, the thought was that Ohio State -- despite knocking off 2012 national champion Loyola and Denver to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament -- was overvalued as the third seed in the NCAA tournament. Despite a convincing 16-6 victory over Towson in the first round, the Buckeyes are viewed as underdogs. That has to do with Ohio State (13-3) meeting Cornell (13-3) in the first game of Saturday's quarterfinals at Byrd Stadium in College Park. The Big Red are unseeded, but after walloping sixth-seeded Maryland, 16-8, last Sunday, many pundits and fans insist that Cornell will be the first team to advance to the national semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia next weekend.

The storyline heading into Maryland's first-round game against Cornell on Sunday dealt with who to match up against Rob Pannell . This week, there isn't as much speculation over who among Dominic Imbordino , Joe Meurer (McDonogh) and Robby Haus (Gilman) will draw the assignment - one, because fans aren't as familiar with those players as they are with the Terps ' defense; and two, because Ohio State is much more likely to employ multiple strategies to slow down Pannell, as opposed to trying to play him straight up. "We want to play with seven," Buckeyes coach Nick Myers said.

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra provided color commentary for fifth-seeded North Carolina's 16-7 rout of Lehigh and Cornell's 16-8 upset of sixth-seeded Maryland in a pair of NCAA tournament first-round contests this past weekend. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, will be part of the crew covering Saturday's quarterfinals in College Park and Sunday's quarterfinals in Indianapolis. Carcaterra offered his perspective on results that impressed and surprised him, concerns for the top two seeded teams and the most interesting quarterfinal.

The NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament will be missing Johns Hopkins for the first time in 42 years this season. After a 9-5 season, the Blue Jays were left out of the NCAA Tournament tonight. But three local teams will be playing next weekend. Maryland is the No. 6 seed and will face Cornell Sunday at 1 p.m. in College Park. Towson, the winner of the CAA tournament, will face No. 3 seed Ohio State Sunday at 3 p.m. in Columbus. Defending national champion Loyola will face Duke in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. The lack of quality wins hurt Johns Hopkins this season.

Authorities say they are continuing to investigate a student murder-suicide this year just off the University of Maryland, College Park campus, a revelation that comes a month after the case was declared closed. Detectives are not looking for additional suspects but are seeking background information on the alleged shooter, Dayvon Green. They are also awaiting responses to subpoenas in the case, according to a Prince George's County police spokesman. A department attorney, Jamar Herry, cited the inquiry as a reason not to provide a copy of the case file requested by The Baltimore Sun through the Maryland Public Information Act. Police would not say who or what was subpoenaed, or what information police are looking to find on Green.

With a final fist pump and cry of "Beat Duke!" retired Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams said goodbye to graduating seniors Thursday, just before their degrees were conferred at commencement. A tearful Williams said his players had told him this year's graduating class was great. "So I decided to go out with you," he said. College Park students took Williams' rising fist as a cue to flip the tassels on their graduation caps. The state's flagship university graduated 7,475 students Thursday, handing out 5,545 bachelor's degrees and 1,930 graduate degrees.

The Washington area's new women's tennis tournament, held at the Tennis Center in College Park on July 23-31, is expected to announce today that it has secured title sponsorship from Citigroup Inc. That bodes well for the future of the event, which will lead into Washington's longstanding summer tournament for men, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, July 30-Aug. 7. The new women's event, called the Citi Open, is a WTA International tournament, which is below WTA Premier tournaments in terms of prestige and prize money.

No. 11 Maryland will not skate through Saturday's regular-season finale against visiting Colgate — the Terps must win to cement a seed and a home game in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They will also have another motivation: history. The Raiders have ended Maryland's regular season with losses in 2011 and 2012, forcing the Terps to open the NCAA tournament on the road. It did not terribly damage them as they advanced to the national title game in both years, but coach John Tillman said he has not had to remind Maryland (9-3)

For as long as Will Ulmer can remember, Maryland has been his favorite college football team. The Terps' well-documented struggles never seemed to bother the St. John's (D.C.) quarterback. Even as Ulmer began to accumulate scholarships from college football powers across the country, the Laurel native kept coming back to his strong feelings about the program down the road in College Park. “[I was just thinking about] staying home and being a local guy / local star just doing it for the hometown team,” Ulmer said Wednesday.