Freshman Season

Before he even attended a college class, Chris Burgess told friends and reporters that he'd probably only stay at Duke for two years. As the most celebrated player of a recruiting class that also included Elton Brand, William Avery and Shane Battier, Burgess figured he would be ready for the NBA after his sophomore season.Only part of his prediction turned out to be true.Burgess, a 6-foot-11, 255-pound center, wound up playing a backup role for most of his two seasons with the Blue Devils.

Player of the YearHolly Noga, Severna Park, Sr., S: Last season, Noga built a reputation as the county's most explosive scorer. This fall, amid defensive game plans geared to stop her, the Falcons' four-year standout further enhanced it. Each game attracted the other team's best defender with help always close by, but Noga once again ran past everyone, finishing the season with 18 goals and eight assists to earn Player of the Year honors a second consecutive season....

City sophomore Derrick Goode, a 7-foot, 300-pound center, has applied to Archbishop Spalding in Anne Arundel County, is presently playing with the Cavaliers' spring basketball team, and plans to leave the Knights' program at the end of the school year, Spalding athletic director Lee Dove said last night.Dove said Goode has been playing with Spalding's spring basketball team "for the last couple of weeks at Goucher College.""He's applied, but I'm not positive that his acceptance has gone through," said Dove.

Josh White was overcoming a difficult opponent: A bout with strep throat cost him 12 pounds, sapped his strength and kept him from two weeks of practice."

Don't talk to Jamie Vogtman about the sophomore jinx. She says she's never heard of it.Her game certainly shows no sign of it.Mercy's 5-foot-11 center said she hasn't felt a lot of pressure to live up to a stellar freshman season in which she averaged 10.7 points and 11.2 rebounds. Still, she is fully aware of what's expected of her."When you're a freshman and you make a mistake, people say, 'That's OK. She's only a freshman,' " Vogtman said. "When you're a sophomore, you've really got to think.

Francis Scott Key Eagles1995-96 record: 16-1Coach: Bill HysonTop wrestlers: Mark Mandell, Jr., 112/119; Matt Yinger, Jr., 130; Tim Beale, Jr., 140; Brett Cowan, Sr., 160; Ryan Roach, Sr., 171; Bobby Bollinger, Sr., 189; Mark Plank, Sr., heavyweight.Outlook: Consistency from top to bottom will once again be the forte of the Eagles, who won their third straight Class 1A-2A region title a year ago. Then, a big question going into the season was their inexperience at the upper weights. Cowan (21-11)

Two injuries for Todd Vizcarrondo in two seasons at Loyola College must have the sophomore attackman questioning his luck.Vizcarrondo, a former All-Metro midfielder at St. Mary's, missed the final six games of his freshman season with the Greyhounds after breaking his left collarbone. And minutes into his second game this year, it happened again, but on the opposite side.He had one goal and one assist in Loyola's opener, a 14-7 victory at Notre Dame. But he went down after a hard check in the Greyhounds' first offensive series against North Carolina two weekends ago and could be out the rest of the season.

With every victory for Mount St. Joseph wrestler Danny DeVivo, there is self-criticism, self-analysis.Take, for example, last year's Annapolis Tournament title bout.DeVivo, a true 160-pounder, was wrestling at 171 pounds. He overcame an early 5-4 deficit by scoring nine of 12 back points in the second period of a 23-6 technical-fall victory over Chris Brown, a state champ from McDonough in Charles County.It was a display of dominance and talent by most standards -- except DeVivo's. All he talked about afterward was that he "got sloppy."

At one end of the field, Western Maryland men's lacrosse coach Keith Reitenbach finds a wealth of experience. At the other end, the opposite holds true.The Green Terrors open their 1994 season Saturday afternoon against Lynchburg (Va.) College with a veteran defense and a talented, but unproven, offense. It leaves the Green Terrors with a wait-and-see attitude coming off a solid 10-3 mark in Reitenbach's first season."If you go by the old cliche 'defense wins championships,' we should be all right.

Glenelg forward Reg Brown is seemingly a coaches' dream.Using his quickness and precise field vision, Brown always looks for an open teammate. Distributing a team-best nine assists last season, he proved to be extremely unselfish and the consummate team player."

Center Braxton Dupree, who started eight games for Maryland as a promising freshman but played little as a sophomore, has transferred to Towson, the school said Monday. The 6-foot-8 center obtained his release from Maryland in April, but it was uncertain where he was headed until Monday. Dupree (Calvert Hall) had said he wanted to remain close to home. Dupree "has an opportunity to be a real impact player in the [Colonial Athletic Association]," Towson coach Pat Kennedy said in a written statement.

At the start of the season, had you asked Chesapeake senior midfielder Courtney Lupinek what was new, she would probably still be answering the question to this day. New coach? Check. New position? Check. New players around her? Check. Lupinek, who made the switch from forward to center midfield, was the only starting field player back for first-year coach Liz Farrell. Despite all the new things, it's been much of the same at Chesapeake, where the Cougars (7-4) are having another fine season with the playoffs fast approaching.

River Hill's Scott Mantua appears to be a typical 15-year-old sophomore finding his way in high school. He's on the quiet side, gets A's and B's in the classroom and enjoys hanging out with friends. Find him on his dirt bike, and he's happy. Snowboarding and fishing are fun, too. But when Mantua gets on the wrestling mat, that all changes. "You wouldn't think he has the personality of a wrestler. And then he gets on the mat and just tears it up. It's fun to watch," said fellow River Hill sophomore Nathan White, who wrestles at 119 pounds and was a regional champion and state qualifier last season.

In Florida, where Centennial second baseman Michelle Bosserman grew up, softball is more like a religion than a sport. A large segment of the population plays or watches, and it's hard to drive far at night without seeing a game in progress. Travel teams schedule spring and fall seasons and, in the summer, all-star squads are selected and play a full schedule. Bosserman started playing softball at 5 and brought a little of that Florida zeal with her to Howard County when she moved at 11. "She learned the game early and you could tell right away she'd be special, because she always gave 110 percent and had a blast," said her father, Greg.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Kyle Dixon was more than a standout lacrosse player at Archbishop Spalding High. He also earned the school's Excellence in Chemistry Award, and his ability to recognize the volatility of certain compounds has come in handy during his freshman season at Virginia. "At Spalding, I was the lead player," said Dixon, who joined an elite midfield corps here and forced his way on to the first unit. "I've had to change my role, but I knew I was going to have to do that. We've got three great senior midfielders.

It's been quite the journey back to UMBC for Jessie Collins, Arundel's talented senior point guard. In her freshman year, she was a key component off the bench in helping the Wildcats to their second state title. Three seasons and two anterior cruciate ligament surgeries later - the first on her right knee the summer before her sophomore season and the second on her left knee at the end of that season - she's looking forward to the chance of ending her high school career the same way she started it. The team captain will lead the No. 3 Wildcats (22-3)

Valerie Anderson decided to brave the bitter Midwest winters more than two years ago with hopes of playing women's basketball for the University of Chicago. But the 5-foot-11 player from Dulaney got caught in a coaching switch for the Division III Maroons and never made it to the basketball court. Instead, she switched gears as a Chicago freshman and made an instant splash in women's indoor track and field, throwing the shot 12.16 meters (39 feet 10 3/4 inches), third best in school indoor history.

Life is good again for Navy junior soccer forward Stacy Finley. She is the toast of the town in Annapolis this week after scoring the game-winning goal on a header against an always-strong Saint Louis University Sunday. Finley's goal came in the championship game of the Toys For Tots Military Academies Classic in St. Louis, gave the Mids a 4-0 start for only the second time in the 10-year history of the women's soccer program and earned Finley the tournament Most Valuable Player award.

Carey Fetting-Smith sat in soccer star Mia Hamm's old dorm room on the North Carolina campus early Monday evening and looked out the window, admiring the tranquil, tree-lined setting. The 2000 All-Metro field hockey Player of the Year from Bryn Mawr was enjoying life as a starting left back on this fall's Tar Heels field hockey squad (14-7). "I know why they say even the sky is Carolina blue down here," said Fetting-Smith, who scored two goals and had five assists in an impressive freshman year.

Two of the most talented players returning for Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team, sophomores Melvin Whitaker and Terrence Wilson, were dismissed from school, the college announced yesterday. The dismissals came three weeks after Mount St. Mary's spring semester ended on May 12. Wilson and Whitaker went in front of the school's academic review committee, which made its decision late last week. The pair can take summer classes at other colleges with the chance to gain readmission to the school.