Edge

UMBC will open the season this Saturday against Robert Morris with Adam Cohen resuming his role as the team's starting goalkeeper. The senior got the nod over sophomore Wes DiRito, and coach Don Zimmerman didn't disagree that Cohen's experience - which includes 23 starts over his first three years - may have given him an edge in the competition. “Adam ended the fall as our No. 1 guy and then coming back in the spring, both guys were competing and improving and challenging one another,” Zimmerman said Thursday morning.

The quarterfinal game between No. 5 Roland Park and No. 12 Seton Keough in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference girls basketball playoffs was not short of heroics. Keough's Kari Zeps made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 50 with 32 seconds left. The host Reds answered when Lindsey Edwards made a baseline runner with seven seconds left to lift Roland Park to a 52-50 victory Tuesday night. Edwards finished with a game-high 15 points and Zeps had 14 for Seton Keough (11-15, 6-8)

To most area basketball fans, Friday nights Mercy-Institute of Notre Dame matchup was just another game. To fans and alumnae of the two schools, it's simply known as "The Game". Calling it a rivalry would kind of be an understatement. It's all about pride, and it's all about bragging rights. In the 47th edition, it was Mercy that outlasted IND, 42-28, in front of roughly 4,000 fans at the Towson Center. Kristina Bayton led the Magic (6-13) with 12 points, while Brooke Fields paced the Penguins (9-8)

This night belonged to McDonogh. McDonogh's top-ranked girls cruised to victory in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland championship meet Friday night. The No. 1 McDonogh boys completed the school's sweep of the private school title meets with their win in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association competition at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex. This was McDonogh's first championship sweep since 2010, and the girls now have won five straight titles.

After falling to No. 1 Archbishop Spalding by 19 points last month, the No. 3 McDonogh girls basketball players knew to avenge that loss, they had to successfully battle the powerful Cavaliers in the paint. In Friday night's rematch, Brianna Jacobs set the tone with eight rebounds in the first quarter and Jamiera Johnson scored the game-winning layup on a feed from Danielle Edwards with 10 seconds left to give the host Eagles a 41-40 upset and deal the Cavaliers their first loss of the season.

The LXM Pro Challenge had its final stop on the 2012 tour Saturday night in Del Mar, Calif., and Team STX defeated Team Sole, 15-12, in their series' seventh game, a contest that featured nine lead changes and eight ties. Team STX had already clinched the series victory with a 22-20 win in Henderson, Nev., on Dec. 1. After his record-setting seven-goal performance in Nevada, Sam Bradman (Salisbury) started right where he left off and beat former Sea Gulls teammate Johnny Rodriguez to give Team STX the early 1-0 lead.

Every now and then we'll offer a lunch-time gathering of news and links related to sports business: Let's start first with what is easily the most important sports business story you'll read this year. Patrick Hruby -- a rare writer equally adept at humor and narrative and analysis -- turned his attention to our government's penchant for giving handouts to sports owners for Sports on Earth . His point being that reducing these costs would go some of the way toward edging the country away from the fiscal cliff you may have heard about.

Edmondson guard Isaiah Tripp knew his team was in for a tough, physical game against Woodrow Wilson (D.C.) at the Spark at the Park event Friday night at Forest Park. Both teams like to play tenacious defense and aggressively attack the basket on each possession. The rivalry between Baltimore and Washington only added to the intensity. In a back-and-forth game, Tripp managed to get off the potential game-tying 3-pointer despite facing double-coverage in the closing seconds. But his shot fell just short of the rim and Wilson escaped with a 65-62 victory.

As St. Paul's went for the game-winning conversion in overtime of Saturday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference football final against John Carroll, quarterback Anthony Pino took the snap and turned around to hand the ball to running back Dale Harris, but Harris wasn't there. Pino didn't panic. He rolled away from the John Carroll defense and spotted Rob Suite open in the end zone. Pino hit the senior receiver in the numbers for the conversion. Those two points gave the No. 9 Crusaders their first lead of the game, 28-27, and secured not only their first B Conference title in seven years but an 11-0 season at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Late in the second half of Thursday's Class 3A girls soccer state title game, River Hill junior defender Callie Allen had a chance to score the goal that would win the championship for the Hawks, but her shot was turned away by C. Milton Wright sophomore goalkeeper Stacy Venanzi. When Allen had another chance in front in overtime, she converted for her fourth goal of the season and first game-winner. Haily Emrick's free kick from the left side eventually found its way to Allen, who finished off the chance with 3:47 left in the first 10-minute overtime period that gave the No. 1 Hawks a thrilling 1-0 win over the No. 5 Mustangs at UMBC Stadium.