Four Goals

St. Mary's boys lacrosse players knew about it, said senior attackman Chris Summers, but "just didn't talk about it."Hoping to avoid becoming the third straight No. 1-ranked team to lose on the day of its debut in the top spot, the Saints were low-key about their position going into yesterday's game against No. 2 St. Paul's in Annapolis -- a game they won, 16-10."

Except for a brief stretch of less than 90 seconds during the first period, the Thunder trailed the Rochester Knighthawks throughout its National Lacrosse League semifinal playoff match last night at Baltimore Arena and ended up bowing, 14-12, ending its season.Down by as much as five goals twice, the Thunder came back from a four-goal deficit early in the fourth period and closed the deficit to a goal with about four minutes remaining.The home team could get no closer, however, as game Most Valuable Player Pat O'Toole stopped just about everything sent his way in goal.

Catholic girls soccer coach Jerry Dieter has just one problem with senior Allison Merkle -- she can't be in two places at once.For two years, Merkle dominated the midfield for a powerhouse Cubs team that was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation. She helped the Cubs win the Catholic League A Division championship and earn the final No. 1 ranking last fall, but much has changed.Few starters remain on a young team that has been lacking in confidence and offensive punch. Before Tuesday's 3-1 win over Institute of Notre Dame, the Cubs were winless and had scored only once.

COLLEGE PARK -- Upset-minded Cornell came to Byrd Stadium yesterday riding a wave of emotion, having earned first-year coach Dave Pietramala his first collegiate win just three days earlier."

A year ago, College of New Jersey goalie Heather Whalin left the NCAA Division III women's lacrosse championships in tears after losing the first game of her college career to Middlebury.There were no tears yesterday after the senior made three exceptional saves in the final 34 minutes to preserve a 12-11 victory over defending champ Middlebury in a Division III semifinal before 1,221 at UMBC stadium.Whalin snared two Amity Wall shots and then had to scramble as Wall's last-ditch effort rolled back into the crease.

The last three times Loyola's women's lacrosse team has played Penn State, the results could not have been closer. Loyola won each game, including two in overtime, by a single goal.Yesterday's meeting was a one-goal game too -- for exactly eight minutes.At that point, Allison Valentino's free-position goal into an open net gave the No. 3 Greyhounds a two-goal lead and they sprinted to a 16-8 victory in their season opener at Curley Field.Penn State, 1-1 and ranked No. 5 in the Lacrosse Magazine preseason coaches' poll, fell behind 6-1 midway through the half.

Forwards Ricardo Capilla and John Moffatt each scored a goal and had an assist to lead Virginia Commonwealth to a 4-1 win yesterday over No. 20 Loyola in men's college soccer at College of Notre Dame's Alumnae Field.The Rams (6-1) had a 2-1 halftime lead before Capilla converted a pass from Moffatt in the 63rd minute. Capilla fed Moffatt for the game's final goal with 3: 35 left.Loyola freshman Matt Stromberg opened the scoring 3: 49 into the game, heading in a corner kick from Bill Fuchs.

South Carroll finally found some luck in a close game.After losing all three of their one-goal games, the Cavaliers' Jason Weisenborn scored with 1: 15 left to give his team a come-from-behind, 10-9 victory over visiting Liberty last night.The Lions jumped to a 4-1 lead after one period and stretched that to 7-4 in the second quarter, led by Nick Waldner (four goals) and Zach Dietrich (two goals, one assist). Liberty (3-6, 1-1) split the South Carroll defense time after time for good shots.

BETHESDA -- When the deluge had finally ended, the only thing Francis Scott Key coach Mindi Wagner could do was shake her head and let out a long sigh."

No. 6 Johns Hopkins (0-1) at Washington College (0-1)Site: Kibler Field, ChestertownTime: 3 p.m.Outlook: Johns Hopkins has dominated the series, winning 34 of the 35 meetings with Division III Washington College. The Blue Jays have won by at least 10 goals in three of their past four games against the Shoremen, including an 18-6 victory last year. In its season opener, Hopkins fell to No. 2 Princeton, 12-9, on Saturday. Blue Jays A Dave Marr had four goals and an assist. Washington College also lost its opener, a 12-4 defeat to Navy on WednesdayFeb.

Capitals Ovechkin selected as one of NHL's 'Three Stars' of week Washington left wing Alex Ovechkin was named one of the NHL's "Three Stars" for the week ending Sunday. He led all scorers for the week with six points (four goals, two assists) as the Capitals (4-2-2) gained five points and moved into first place in the Southeast Division. Ovechkin began the week by recording two assists in a 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils Oct. 12. He recorded two goals in a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks Thursday and tallied two more plus the shootout winner in a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators Saturday.

Playing in the biggest game of the regular season Tuesday, second-ranked St. Mary's watched an early seven-goal lead against top-ranked Calvert Hall dwindle to one in the closing minutes. The stakes were high for each team because the winner earned a bye in the first round of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs. The Cardinals had possession with 50.7 seconds left, and Tony Rossi's bouncing shot 10 seconds later sent the game into overtime. St. Mary's defense forced a crucial stop to start the extra period that set up a goal by John Hogan with 2:39 left for a 12-11 victory.

Max Seibald scored with four seconds to play to lift No. 1 Cornell to a 16-15 win over host No. 14 Syracuse last night. Eric Pittard led the Big Red (9-0) with four goals and three assists. The Orange (3-6) was paced by goalie Peter Coluccini, who kept his team in the game with 22 saves. No. 5 Georgetown 11, Mount St. Mary's 5 -- The visiting Hoyas (7-2) used a six-goal run starting midway through the third quarter to defeat the Mountaineers (1-7). Joe Derwent, Dave Orban and Eric Seifert each had a goal and an assist for the Mount.

COLLEGE PARK // No. 4 Maryland scored seven goals in the first quarter and went on to dominate Dartmouth, 14-2, Tuesday afternoon at Ludwig Field. Maryland (5-1) did not allow a Dartmouth shot until 6:56 in the second quarter and the Big Green did not get a shot on goal until 3:13 during an extra-man opportunity. Joe Walters scored four goals for the Terps, who led 11-0 at the half. Dartmouth got on the board in the fourth quarter with a goal from Bread Heritage at the 6:28 mark, but Maryland responded with its first man-down goal of the season on freshman Scott Tompkins' first collegiate goal with an assist by sophomore midfielder Drew Evans.

All night long, Centennial goalkeeper Nick Kellinger had ignored the Towson fans screaming of his name. But with the game tied late, he responded in a big way. The senior thwarted two straight shots from point-blank range, and, later, was protecting a two-goal lead when the Generals' Tim Skeen altered his shot and hit the pipe with 2:15 to play. That would be Towson's final offensive threat. When the final buzzer sounded, Kellinger's 10 saves had helped secure a come-from-behind, 9-7 upset of the 14th-ranked Generals in the Class 3A-2A state championship game at UMBC, earning the fifth crown for 27th-year coach Mike Siegert.

Junior attackman Kyle Barrie scored four goals and senior attackman Conor Ford (St. Paul's) added three as No. 1 Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team held off Penn, 10-9 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the 20th straight at home for the Blue Jays (0-1), while the Quakers fell for the second consecutive season at Homewood Field. Hopkins sophomore goalie Scott Smith stuffed aside a shot in the final five seconds to seal the victory for the Blue Jays (1-0). The Blue Jays carried a 7-4 lead into halftime, only to have the Quakers outscore them, 4-1 in the third quarter to tie the game at 8-8. Junior Matt Rewkowski, playing in his first game at Johns Hopkins, gave the Blue Jays the lead for good at 9-8 with an extra-man goal at the 9:03 mark and he appeared to give the Blue Jays the insurance goal they would need when he assisted on Ford's goal with 2:35 remaining to push the lead to 10-8.

There was no pile-on or victory lap, but there were a lot of handshakes and hugs and, of course, the ceremonial ice-cooler shower delivered to United States coach Bob Shriver. It was the kind of subdued celebration that you'd anticipate from a team that expected to do this all along. The U.S. team won its fifth International Lacrosse Federation Under-19 world championship last night, starting fast and finishing strong to beat Canada, 19-10, before 2,200 at Minnegan Field at Towson Stadium.

Even a fast start by No. 7 Hereford couldn't stop the visiting Catonsville girls lacrosse team from finishing off one of the most memorable victories in program history last night. After giving up the first four goals, the No. 11 Comets gained control of the tempo and eventually the game, riding four goals from Maryland-bound Becky Clipp to a 12-10 win over the two-time defending Class 2A-1A state champions. "They scored four goals in five minutes, but there was still a lot of time left, so we couldn't get down on ourselves," said Clipp, whose team showed patience on offense, especially in the second half.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- It didn't have to be this close. The Princeton men's lacrosse team led Georgetown by as many as five goals in the first half, and four in the third quarter, but when you are talking about Princeton and the NCAA tournament is there any surprise that the game came down to one goal? After giving up what appeared to be a comfortable lead, the fourth-ranked Tigers won thanks to attackman Ryan Boyle. The sophomore from Gilman scored a gritty goal with four seconds left to lift Princeton to an exciting 14-13 victory yesterday over the fifth-ranked Hoyas in an NCAA quarterfinal game before 5,561 at Hofstra Stadium.

If, as expected, Navy's lacrosse team misses the NCAA Division I tournament field, at least it will have a fond memory as to how the 2001 season concluded. The Midshipmen continued their year-long domination of archrival Army last night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, notching a 10-4 victory that probably still won't be enough to get them into the playoffs. Navy's players were hoping for some help in future games to enhance their one solid victory over a highly ranked opponent (Georgetown)