Denver

The Loyola men's basketball team made history this past winter when it qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years. With its 10-9 decision over Denver Saturday, the men's lacrosse team advanced to its first Final Four since 1998. But junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players and coaches aren't content now. “We have a little higher expectation than just making the tournament,” he said. “I think we knew from the very beginning this fall how much we had in this locker room and that we had a good shot to get this program back to the Final Four.” The top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1)

Loyola attackmen Eric Lusby and Mike Sawyer have seen a lot of different zones and man-to-man defensive combinations this season. Fairfield tried to match up with them by using two short-stick midfielders. And last Saturday, Denver played a zone that shut off Sawyer, but Lubsy blew up the Pioneers for five goals in Loyola's 10-9 NCAA quarterfinal win at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Next up for the No. 1-seeded Greyhounds is No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Saturday in the semi-finals at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Loyola attackman Eric Lusby played like he felt right at home Saturday. The Severna Park native, who is a graduate student, tied career highs with five goals and six points to lead the Greyhounds to a 10-9 win over Denver in an NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium before an announced 13,390, the fourth-largest crowd ever for this round. Loyola, the top seed in the tournament, advances to the semifinals for the first time since 1998.

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra was the sideline reporter for No. 1 seed Loyola's 10-9 win against unseeded Denver on Saturday. On Monday, he offered what he liked and what he didn't like in the Greyhounds' victory in the NCAA tournament's quarterfinal round. Thursday will feature Carcaterra's assessment of Maryland's 11-5 upset of No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins, but here is what he thought of Loyola's win. What Carcaterra liked: “I loved Loyola's pace. I think they've changed their approach and the way they attack in one year more than any other team I can remember in recent time, and I respect that so much.

Loyola long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff scored right off the faceoff to open overtime, erasing a nightmarish fourth-quarter collapse by the Greyhounds and lifting them to a 14-13 win over host Denver in an Eastern College Athletic Conference men's lacrosse semifinal Wednesday night. The top-seeded Greyhounds, who defeated No. 4 seed Denver on its home field for the second time in 2 ½ weeks, advance to Friday afternoon's ECAC championship, where they will face No. 3 seed Fairfield, which defeated No. 2 seed Ohio State, 8-7, in Wednesday's other semifinal.

Jeremy Noble, Denver Sophomore, Orangeville, Ontario, midfielder Noble had a record-setting performance in the Pioneers' 16-14 upset of No. 8 seed North Carolina in a NCAA tournament first-round game Saturday night. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound midfielder collected a career-best 10 points on three goals and a career-high seven assists. The point total was a single-game Denver record. Noble posted one goal and four assists in a pivotal third quarter in which the Pioneers turned a 10-8 halftime deficit into a 13-12 lead heading into the fourth quarter; he then added two assists in the final period.

Each week, The Sun has published a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to get you more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Friday's guest isn't local, but Denver junior attackman Mark Matthews has been drawing attention nationally for his personal success this season, which includes finishing the regular season ranked fourth in Division I in points per game (4.13) and fifth in goals per game (2.73). The sixth-seeded Pioneers meet No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

Loyola and Denver will meet in the NCAA tournament for the first time, but it's the third contest in five weeks between the Eastern College Athletic Conference rivals. The top-seeded Greyhounds (15-1) won the first two meetings and have absorbed just one loss at the hands of Johns Hopkins on April 28, but this is their first appearance in a tournament quarterfinal since 2001. The Pioneers (9-6) experienced this stage of the tournament last May when they stunned the Blue Jays to advance to their first Final Four in school history.

As the top seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament, No. 3 Loyola is the favorite to survive the two rounds, capture the tourney, and earn the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament. But in Wednesday night's semifinal, the Greyhounds (12-1) must first get past No. 9 Denver (8-5), which upset No. 5 Duke, 15-9, last Friday. Coach Charley Toomey said there are no plans to review the Pioneers' win against the Blue Devils with the team. “We really don't have to show that film to talk about respecting Denver,” he said of the two-time reigning conference champion during a conference call Monday of the four coaches participating in the conference tournament.

This Saturday, No. 8 Loyola will visit No. 7 Denver in a key showdown that could determine the top seed in the coming Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. It will mark the third consecutive year that the Greyhounds will have traveled to the metropolitan area affectionately called The Mile High City, and the team is still seeking its first win there. The Pioneers beat Loyola, 12-4, at what used to be known as Invesco Field - the home of the NFL's Broncos - in 2010, and Fairfield delivered a similar result with a 10-9 decision in the semifinal round of last year's league tournament.

Here are a few notes that didn't make Sunday's article on No. 1 seed Loyola's 10-9 decision against Denver in Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal due to space constraints. *After getting their first 11 goals from 11 different players in a 14-13 overtime win against the Pioneers in an Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament semifinal May 2, the Greyhounds got six different scorers on Saturday. *Fifth-year senior attackman Eric Lusby set a career high with seven points, eclipsing his previous best of six points against Bellarmine on March 3. His five goals tied a career high.

With about six minutes left in the fourth quarter of Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal in Annapolis and Loyola nursing a 10-8 lead, coach Charley Toomey did what many others would have - and have - done in his position. He took the air out of the ball, played keep-away, and forced Denver to double-team, thereby leaving the net open for an easy goal. That strategy, however, almost backfired on the top-seeded Greyhounds. Denver forced a turnover and turned that miscue into a goal by freshman midfielder Wes Berg with 2:43 remaining.

Denver's Bill Tierney is arguably the best coach in college lacrosse history, but he should be careful not to tarnish his legacy. Tierney, who won six national championships at Princeton, has done a great job of turning around Denver's program in recent years, but a lot of fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Saturday weren't applauding him. Rather, they were criticizing him for his behavior during the game. On almost every whistle, Tierney seemed to be ranting and criticizing the officials in Denver's game against Loyola.

The Loyola men's basketball team made history this past winter when it qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years. With its 10-9 decision over Denver Saturday, the men's lacrosse team advanced to its first Final Four since 1998. But junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players and coaches aren't content now. “We have a little higher expectation than just making the tournament,” he said. “I think we knew from the very beginning this fall how much we had in this locker room and that we had a good shot to get this program back to the Final Four.” The top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1)

Loyola and Denver will meet in the NCAA tournament for the first time, but it's the third contest in five weeks between the Eastern College Athletic Conference rivals. The top-seeded Greyhounds (15-1) won the first two meetings and have absorbed just one loss at the hands of Johns Hopkins on April 28, but this is their first appearance in a tournament quarterfinal since 2001. The Pioneers (9-6) experienced this stage of the tournament last May when they stunned the Blue Jays to advance to their first Final Four in school history.

Loyola attackman Eric Lusby played like he felt right at home Saturday. The Severna Park native, who is a graduate student, tied career highs with five goals and six points to lead the Greyhounds to a 10-9 win over Denver in an NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium before an announced 13,390, the fourth-largest crowd ever for this round. Loyola, the top seed in the tournament, advances to the semifinals for the first time since 1998.

•Denver will try to salvage a spot in the NCAA tournament with its game tonight against Duke in the Whitman's Sampler Mile High Classic. But it will also be a showcase for the city and the state on a big stage in a big stadium. NCAA championship officials will be in attendance, and Denver has made it no secret that the city thinks it is ready to host a final four. Officials will be evaluating the city for potential NCAA hosting duties. "We certainly feel like this could send a message to the NCAA," Denver coach Bill Tierney said.

Minutes after what would prove to be a season-defining victory for the Denver men's lacrosse team over reigning national champion Duke last month, on April 9, in Bethpage, N.Y., a reporter congratulated Pioneers coach Bill Tierney by telling him that the win would attract talented players from the Long Island hotbed. "I kind of looked at the roster and said, 'We've got some pretty good players. We've got guys from 20 different states,'" Tierney said as a smile creased his face. "It's all part of what we're going through.

One factor that would seem to be in Denver's favor heading into Saturday's quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 seed Loyola is a familiarity with reaching this stage of the NCAA tournament as underdogs. The Pioneers entered the 2011 quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed and as an underdog, but stunned No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins,14-9, to advance to the Final Four. But much as he did with the question of defeating a team three times in a single season, Tierney shrugged off any suggestion that his team's experience is an edge against a Greyhounds team making its first appearance in the quarterfinal round since 2001.

On Tuesday, Denver coach Bill Tierney downplayed the increasingly popular notion that it will be difficult for No. 1 seed Loyola to beat the Pioneers for the third time this season, saying that the Greyhounds (15-1) have the weapons heading into Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal in Annapolis. Loyola coach Charley Toomey agreed, but he slightly massaged the message about the task of trying to complete a three-game sweep of Denver (9-6). “We don't have to beat them three times.