Ground Balls

They're the scrappers. The players who do a lot of the hard work before the goals are scored. The ones who track back defensively as fast as they push up on attack.They're also the guys who would have preferred to play in the early-season cold and rain.Duties include winning draws, scooping up ground balls, riding relentlessly on defense and whatever else it takes to get their team a win.Westminster coach Jim Peters talked about the days when midfielders played all 60 minutes of a game. Those days are gone now with teams using three and sometimes four midfield lines, but there are still some midfielders who come close to qualifying.

Steele Stanwick , Virginia Senior, Baltimore, attackman Stanwick tied a career high with eight points (three goals and five assists) in the top-ranked Cavaliers' 12-8 victory at No. 11 Maryland on Saturday. After the Terps took a 7-5 lead in the third quarter, the 6-foot, 190-pound attackman powered Virginia's 7-1 game-ending run, recording three goals and two assists during that spurt. Stanwick, who also collected five ground balls, earned the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week award.

Mount Hebron showed yesterday why it is considered to be by far the best team in Howard County this season.The Vikings, last season's state Class 3A finalist, gave Mount Saint Joe (2-4) a clinic on faceoffs and badly outhustled the Gaels on ground balls to score a 13-8 victory in the rain at Mount Hebron.The win was particularly sweet because the Vikings (2-0) had lost to St. Joe by a goal last season -- one of only two loses.The advantage on faceoffs was lopsided in Mount Hebron's favor, 19-6.

Anna Barnett, UMBC Freshman, Midland, Texas, goalie In her first career start, Barnett led the Retrievers to their biggest win of the season, an 8-5 upset of then-No. 13 Albany. She made nine saves, including four of five free-position shots, and had two ground balls and a caused turnover. In helping the Retrievers avenge their loss in last season's America East Conference tournament championship, Barnett stopped two free-position shots in the final 3:48 to preserve the win. Her .559 save percentage ranks No. 1 in Division I, and her 7.02 goals-against average is second; she plays about 25 minutes per game.

Most lacrosse coaches can't stress enough the importance of winning ground balls. And Jim Beardmore, coach of defending Class 4A-3A state champion Severna Park, is one of those coaches. His team's success helps him get the point across. "Ground balls were very important to our success last year," said Beardmore, who led the Falcons to an overall 15-4 record and No. 11 ranking in 2004. "Ben Hunt was like a machine on ground balls for us. He really worked hard to get them, and while he wanted to score or assist, getting ground balls was every bit as important to him."

Scoring goals is a necessity in boys lacrosse, but ground balls were the difference for Gilman. In a matchup between the area's two best lacrosse programs, the top-ranked and visiting Greyhounds slipped past No. 2 Boys' Latin, 14-12, yesterday. Although Lakers senior attack Brian Nee led all scorers with seven goals and senior attack Dan LaMonica contributed a goal and four assists, Gilman improved to 2-0 in the MIAA A Conference and 3-0 overall by dominating ground balls (51-37) and faceoffs (20-10)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts said Wednesday morning that he has more good days than bad in his recovery from multiple concussions. Roberts is gradually beginning to do more baseball work on the back fields of the Ed Smith Stadium complex. He has begun taking live batting practice from coaches, and for the past week, he has been working with former Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick, taking ground balls. He's also doing running and stretching activities with special assistant Brady Anderson.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- On Day One of the Javy Lopez experiment at first base, the displaced catcher was flawless. Lopez turned in three good plays in the Orioles' 6-4 loss to the Florida Marlins in their exhibition opener at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, making two good pickups of ground balls in the third inning and throwing a runner out at home in the fourth. "I was still a little intimidated and nervous, but once I made the first play, I kind of calmed down a little bit," said Lopez, who has looked shaky at the position at times throughout training.

COACH OF THE YEAR* Warren Michael, Mount Hebron -- At the beginning of the season Mount Hebron was judged to be the third-best team in Howard County behind Centennial and Oakland Mills.By the end of the season the county champion Vikings (14-2) surpassed both those teams and narrowly missed winning the Class 3A/4A state championship, losing in overtime to Arundel, 12-11. Their only other loss was in overtime to Mount St. Joe, 9-8.His teams displayed discipline and intensity -- two elements that characterize his own personality.

No. 2 Johns Hopkins (7-0) Coming up: At No. 1 Virginia, Saturday, 2 p.m. Comment: The Blue Jays ended a six-game losing streak last year to the Cavaliers but haven't won in Charlottesville since 1998. Junior Mike Poppleton ranks third in Division I in faceoffs, winning 64.8 percent (68 of 105). No. 8 Loyola (7-0) Coming up: At UMBC, Saturday, 7 p.m. Comment: The Greyhounds are off to their best start since 2002 and are looking for their first 8-0 opening since 1999.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts said Wednesday morning that he has more good days than bad in his recovery from multiple concussions. Roberts is gradually beginning to do more baseball work on the back fields of the Ed Smith Stadium complex. He has begun taking live batting practice from coaches, and for the past week, he has been working with former Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick, taking ground balls. He's also doing running and stretching activities with special assistant Brady Anderson.

Salisbury defenseman Zeke Smith was named the Capital Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore anchored a Sea Gulls defense that surrendered just seven goals in two wins against McDaniel and No. 15 Gettysburg. Smith had a team-best five caused turnovers and was tied for second on the team with six ground balls in those two victories. He leads Salisbury with eight caused turnovers this season.

Playing midfield for the No. 15 Bel Air boys lacrosse team, sophomore Parker Jones wants to make a difference every chance he gets. It could be scoring a goal, dishing out an assist, scooping up a ground ball or playing smart defense. If he had his choice, he would never leave the field. In his second year on varsity, Jones has 24 goals, 15 assists and 88 ground balls as the Bobcats (12-2) prepare for a run at a state title. In addition to lacrosse, Jones also was the team captain for the school's junior varsity basketball team last season, playing forward and guard.

Brian Karalunas, Villanova Senior, Dewitt, N.Y., long-stick midfielder Karalunas aided the No. 13 Wildcats' 10-4 victory over then-No. 11 Delaware last Saturday. He recorded game highs in both ground balls with eight and caused turnovers with six, and he leads Villanova in both categories with 49 ground balls and 52 caused turnovers. Karalunas leads Division I with an average of 4.7 caused turnovers per game. The next player on that list, Detroit sophomore Jordan Houtby, is averaging 3.3 caused turnovers.

One of the top girls lacrosse players in Anne Arundel County, Chesapeake-AA's Erin Tenneson followed her big brother Chris into sports, and her midfield play has been critical to keeping the Cougars (2-2) firmly in the middle of the pack in one of the state's toughest leagues. This season, the senior has 18 goals and three assists as well as 14 draw controls and 19 ground balls. Tenneson, 18, also plays field hockey and basketball for the Cougars. A member of the National Honor Society, she earned a 4.75 GPA last semester.