Freshmen

Annapolis was dubbed "the center of the jazz world" by local jazz impresario Elana Byrd last weekend for hosting the three-day Four Freshmen Society convention at the Doubletree Hotel on Riva Road. The society is an international fan club whose members gather once a year for a convention celebrating the group. The longest continually performing vocal group, the original Four Freshmen started singing together in 1948, and had their first hit single, "It's a Blue World," four years later.

Falling in an NCAA tournament semifinal for the third time in four years was an outcome Stevenson had hoped to avoid. But even after Sunday's 7-2 setback to nine-time reigning national champion Salisbury, there was a lot to be happy about with the Mustangs. This was a squad that had graduated a combined 217 goals and 130 assists from attackmen Jimmy Dailey and Richie Ford and midfielders Neal Barthelme, Kyle Moffitt, Sean Calabrese and Jake Stocksdale. Add three starting defensemen in Evan Douglass, Kyle Menendez and Ian Hart and faceoff specialist Ray Witte, and not many people had given Stevenson much of a chance of reaching Sunday's stage.

Maryland's Katie Schwarzmann couldn't have done much better as a college freshman. Last spring, the Century graduate was the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, a third-team All-American and an integral part of a national championship team. She scored three goals in the Terrapins' 13-11 NCAA Division I title victory over five-time defending champ Northwestern and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Now Schwarzmann and a handful of others who made stellar debuts last spring face another transition.

Last weekend, Loyola's women's lacrosse team had the satisfaction of winning the Big East tournament by soundly beating then-No. 2 Syracuse in the final. The Greyhounds also had the satisfaction of knowing they exceeded the expectations of just about everyone except themselves. The heart of a stingy defense returned from last year's NCAA quarterfinal team, but the Greyhounds graduated 10 seniors and 221 of 276 goals. They were picked to finish third in the Big East, largely because the offense would have to rely heavily on some of their 11 freshmen.

With 49 seconds left in the 132-pound final at Saturday's Franklin Invitational, John Carroll freshman Chris Scott was trailing by two points. He knew he had to do something, and do it fast. When the match restarted, Scott knew he needed a takedown just to tie. And he and his opponent, top-seeded Owings Mills senior Zach Shapiro, both went for it. Shapiro seemed to have gotten the advantage, but he couldn't hold it as Scott scooted away and got the advantage. And then, quick as a blink, the freshman had the senior on his back for a near fall.

Et cetera 3 Towson freshmen earn CAA weekly football honors A trio of freshmen from the No. 10 Towson football team — tailback Terrance West (Northwestern), kick return specialist Derrick Joseph and cornerback Tye Smith — have been named as winners of Colonial Athletic Association weekly awards, conference officials announced Monday. West was named the Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, while Joseph was honored as the Special Teams Performer of the Week and Smith was the Rookie of the Week.

What began with the exodus of premier underclass players in the Atlantic Coast Conference has become the year of the freshman phenom.Consider North Carolina's Antawn Jamison, a 6-foot-8 freshman who this week achieved the rare double of being named the ACC's Player of the Week and its top rookie."

The Class of 1997 has arrived.Three freshmen -- Hammond's Rene Hines, Howard's Chanelle Carter and Glenelg's Camey Brian -- haven't wasted any time proving they can play with the best in Howard County girls basketball. All three have turned in big minutes and big baskets giving their squads sometimes badly needed depth.Hines stands tall at the head of the class -- and not just because she's 6 feet 1."Rene is the best freshman I've seen coming into the league, and there have been some good ones," said Craig O'Connell, coach at Howard for the past six years.

Earlier in the week, North Carolina coach Joe Breschi told Pat Foster it was his time to shine. On Saturday, the freshman attackman delivered with three goals and an assist in the No. 7 Tar Heels' 11-6 win at No. 6 Maryland. Foster (Boys' Latin) was making his first start on attack, filling in for the injured Thomas Wood. Foster felt some pregame jitters playing in front of a home crowd of 3,176 at Byrd Stadium, but those anxieties soon faded as he scored his first goal late in the first quarter, and his last one early in the fourth to push North Carolina's lead to 10-5.

In the days of eight-track tapes and vinyl records, college freshmen hit the road to college with little more than a turntable and an alarm clock. Today's freshmen are decidedly more techno-laden.NFO Research Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., surveyed 612 people - half who entered college in 1967, and the rest who started school last year. The survey was sponsored by the Best Buy retail chain. Here's a look at what they're packing into the family station wagon, er, van.Q. Looking back to your freshman year, if you could only have one thing in your dorm room, which one of these would you choose?

Seth Allen wasn't quite satisfied. Sure, the Fredericksburg (Va.) Christian combo guard is part of an incoming Maryland basketball class brimming with possibility. It's a confident, five-member group that knows it has the opportunity to make a swift impact on a Terps team that was depth-challenged and faded late in the regular season, finishing 17-15. "I've got a history of playing young kids," coach Mark Turgeon said this week. "And I'm going to play the best players.

Frostburg State has been dealt a pair of blows, and the season hasn't even started. A pair of starters in junior midfielder Lucas Flaig and sophomore defenseman Zach Burkhardt have been lost for the season after sustaining injuries. Flaig underwent hip surgery last Friday, while Burkhardt had surgery to repair a broken foot. Flaig finished 2011 ranked second on the team in goals with 24. Coach Tommy Pearce said he is curious to see how the projected first midfield of sophomores Phil Hess (11 goals and 13 assists)

With 49 seconds left in the 132-pound final at Saturday's Franklin Invitational, John Carroll freshman Chris Scott was trailing by two points. He knew he had to do something, and do it fast. When the match restarted, Scott knew he needed a takedown just to tie. And he and his opponent, top-seeded Owings Mills senior Zach Shapiro, both went for it. Shapiro seemed to have gotten the advantage, but he couldn't hold it as Scott scooted away and got the advantage. And then, quick as a blink, the freshman had the senior on his back for a near fall.

If you're a Maryland football defensive coach, this is your hope -- that all those young players forced into action this season because of injuries have now benefited from the experience. Remember that the Terps lost eight potential starters on defense at various points in the season. That meant young players entering games -- perhaps before they were ready. Of course, some might have played even without injuries to their more established teammates. When youngsters are summoned early, either of two things can happen.

Et cetera 3 Towson freshmen earn CAA weekly football honors A trio of freshmen from the No. 10 Towson football team — tailback Terrance West (Northwestern), kick return specialist Derrick Joseph and cornerback Tye Smith — have been named as winners of Colonial Athletic Association weekly awards, conference officials announced Monday. West was named the Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, while Joseph was honored as the Special Teams Performer of the Week and Smith was the Rookie of the Week.

During the fourth quarter of last Saturday's game at Georgia Tech, Maryland linebacker Mario Rowson looked around him and noticed that he was not the only freshman on the field for the Terps . Far from it. "It was like, 'Dang we've got five freshmen out here. We're doing it,'" Rowson recalled Wednesday, sitting in the auditorium at the Gossett Team House. "They got some good stuff out of all of us. It felt good. " Though the Terps wound up losing, 21-16, to the then 13th-ranked Yellow Jackets at Grant Field, the play of the five freshmen — four of whom started — has been a bright spot for a team in the midst of what now has the markings of a difficult transition season.

Titus Till was the next Terp up. When starting safety Matt Robinson had shoulder surgery following the Sept. 24 Temple game, Till figured it was his turn. The redshirt freshman — who grew up in Italy and Japan and played soccer as his primary sport — had never started a college game. "It was heartbreaking to me because I've known Matt since high school. We were Maryland all-state together and played in the Crab Bowl together," Till said. "He had a face-to-face talk with me to just say, 'Yeah, you're ready, do your thing.

Three games into the season, Maryland football coach Randy Edsall is eagerly looking for playing time for the right guys — Edsall guys — and those players have increasingly turned out to be freshmen. Through his early-season use of first-year players, Edsall seems to be delivering a not-so-subtle message to his team about the sort of Terp he is looking for. His message, according to sophomore defensive end David Mackall (Edmondson), is that "just because you're older, just because you might be better doesn't mean anything if you don't do what you've got to do. If you don't work hard, then there's always somebody else that's willing to do it. The message is that you don't have to put an age on somebody playing the game with passion.