Holy Cross

Along with junior goalkeeper Mike Fisher, senior defenseman David Henry is the veteran voice on a Holy Cross defense looking to improve on the 11.1 goals per game the unit surrendered last year. Henry, a Davidsonville native and Severn graduate, has made 26 starts in the team's last 30 contests and was named a captain in the offseason. Because of the Crusaders' expected youth on defense, Holy Cross coach Jim Morrissey said Henry must avoid last season's habit of collecting fouls.

The Navy women's lacrosse team spent the bulk of this season tearing through the overmatched and underwhelming Patriot League. On Sunday, the host Midshipmen put an exclamation point on perhaps their best season in school history, scoring the game's first five goals and cruising to an 18-11 win over Holy Cross to claim their third straight Patriot League tournament title. "We really put a punctuation on this season," Navy coach Cindy Timchal said. "It was a total team effort, and the credit [went to]

Holy Cross has hired Milan Brown to coach its men's basketball team. Holy Cross said on Friday that it had signed Brown to a five-year contract, with an option for a sixth season. The 39-year-old Brown coached Mount St. Mary's for seven seasons. He replaces Sean Kearney, who was fired after one season. Holy Cross went 9-22 overall last season and 5-9 in the eight-team Patriot League to finish seventh. The 22 losses were the most ever for the school. Kearney was hired last year after Ralph Willard left to join Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville.

The Towson men's lacrosse team scored in the second overtime to win, 10-9, against host Hofstra on Saturday. The Tigers (6-3, 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association) trailed 9-3 with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter but went on a 7-0 run to beat the Pride (4-5, 1-2). Thomas DeNapoli tied the game with two seconds left in regulation, and Justin Mabus had the final score with 38 seconds remaining in the second overtime. UMBC 16, Hartford 12: Joe Lustgarten had eight points to lead the Retrievers (3-4, 1-0 America East)

K.C. Gordon scored a game-high 20 points to power the host Navy women past Holy Cross, 75-60. The game was tied twice in the first six minutes, but the Midshipmen (10-9, 2-2 Patriot League) never trailed. Whitney Fremeau led the Crusaders (5-14, 1-3) with 15 points. More women's basketball: JaQuelia Conley (13 points) hit the game-winner with 35 seconds left to lift host Stevenson over Salisbury, 55-53. Janay Johnson made two free throws to tie the game at 53 with 1:02 remaining for the Sea Gulls (5-10, 2-6 Capital Athletic Conference)

Game-winning goals in the final minutes highlighted the two previous Navy women's lacrosse wins over Holy Cross. This time, it was all about defense. If you were 15 minutes late to Navy's 10-4 victory Saturday, you missed most of the offensive action, including Danielle Vivonetto's game-winning goal, but you showed up just in time for the defensive show at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen shut out the Crusaders for the final 42:02 as the defense had a school-record 17 caused turnovers and won 21 of 28 ground balls.

Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger has contacted Holy Cross athletic director Ronald Perry about Crusaders football coach Mark Duffner, a candidate for the recently vacated Maryland job, according to officials in the Holy Cross and Maryland athletic departments.The officials said Perry was contacted Tuesday afternoon. Geiger and Perry declined to comment last night, and Duffner was unavailable.Other candidates -- East Carolina's Bill Lewis, William & Mary's Jimmye Laycock, Villanova's Andy Talley, Stanford's Dennis Green and Bowling Green's Gary Blackney -- did not return phone calls yesterday.

The University of Maryland (17-12) will be making its fourth successive appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I women's basketball tournament when it faces Holy Cross (24-5) Wednesday night in Worcester, Mass.Maryland (10-7) has made the postseason tournament eight times in the event's 10-year history, including two trips to the Final Four, but Holy Cross (0-2) will be trying to get past the opening round for the first time in three tries.It will be their first meeting, with the winner advancing to a Mideast Regional second-round game Sunday afternoon at third-seed Auburn University (24-5)

New Maryland football coach Mark Duffner began putting his coaching staff together yesterday, hiring four assistants who helped him compile college football's best winning percentage over the past six years at Holy Cross.Duffner hired Dan Dorazio as the Terrapins' offensive coordinator, Peter McCarty and Cliff Schwenke were named defensive coaches and Dave Ungerer will be the team's strength coach.McCarty and Schwenke will have their assignments defined when Duffner completes his eight-man staff.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Gordon Hamilton scored 28 points and Rob Feaster added 25 points and six assists, leading Holy Cross to an 87-77 victory over Navy in a Patriot League game yesterday, ending the Midshipmen's two-game winning streak.Michael Heary led Navy in scoring for the third consecutive game with 23 points. Wes Cooper had 15 points and six rebounds, as Navy (8-6, 1-2) out-rebounded Holy Cross 44-31.But Hamilton and Feaster were the difference for Holy Cross (8-5, 3-0), which maintained at least a share of first place in the league.

Loyola held Air Force scoreless for more than 31 minutes, and the Greyhounds (6-0, 2-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) used a 10-0 run to earn a 15-8 victory over the Falcons (3-4, 0-1) on Saturday at Ridley Athletic Complex. Air Force took a 7-4 lead with 2:42 left in the first half when Tommy McKee fed a pass over the goal to Ryland De Pol, who pushed a shot past Loyola goalkeeper Jack Runkel. The goal capped a 4-0 Falcons run over six-plus minutes. The goal was the last Air Force would score over the next 31 minutes, 17 seconds.

Boasting a lineup that includes four sophomore starters, the Navy women's basketball team has dealt with plenty of ups and downs this season. After Saturday's 57-48 win over Holy Cross, however, the Midshipmen found their new high point — standing atop a ladder, cutting down the nets at Alumni Hall. Six-foot sophomore Jade Geif finished with a career-high 22 points and the Midshipmen held the Crusaders to two field goals over the final 13:06 in the finals of the Patriot League tournament before an announced 1,704.

Bradford Burgess scored 22 points and the host Virginia Commonwealth men's basketball team took advantage of every Towson turnover Wednesday night, beating the Tigers, 66-43. The Rams (21-5, 12-2 Colonial Athletic Association) have won 10 in a row and 18 of their past 20. The Tigers (1-25, 1-13) committed 28 turnovers. Burgess had been quiet in the previous four games, scoring eight, eight, nine and six points. He was 8-for-15 from the field, including 6-for-11 from behind the arc. D.J. Haley added career highs in points (10)

Along with junior goalkeeper Mike Fisher, senior defenseman David Henry is the veteran voice on a Holy Cross defense looking to improve on the 11.1 goals per game the unit surrendered last year. Henry, a Davidsonville native and Severn graduate, has made 26 starts in the team's last 30 contests and was named a captain in the offseason. Because of the Crusaders' expected youth on defense, Holy Cross coach Jim Morrissey said Henry must avoid last season's habit of collecting fouls.

The Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland and the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference have announced the schedule for the inaugural IAAM-WCAC Basketball Challenge, to be held Dec. 3-4 at St. Paul's School for Girls' Performance Gym in Brooklandville. The first day of action features IAAM runner-up McDonogh facing St. John's, which finished No. 14 in the final ESPN RISE poll last season and was the WCAC champion. The second day features IAAM defending champion Archbishop Spalding playing WCAC runner-up Holy Cross.

The U.S. Air Force Academy took a five-goal lead in the second quarter and held off the 15th-ranked Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse team, 8-6, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference matchup Saturday afternoon in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Falcons (2-5, 1-1) scored the game's first three goals and held the Greyhounds (3-3, 1-1) off the scoreboard for over 13 minutes to start the contest. Goalkeeper Jake Hagelin scored a short-handed goal in the fourth quarter for the Greyhounds, the first goal of his career.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Larry Green scored a career-high 21 points, including five to spark a 12-3 run to start overtime, to lead Navy past Holy Cross, 99-91, yesterday in a Patriot League game.Rob Feaster scored a game-high 46 points on 15-for-29 shooting for Holy Cross.T. J. Hall scored 20 points and Jim Hamilton added 12 for Navy.Navy, which took a 43-31 halftime lead, shot 51.6 percent from the field and forced Holy Cross into 29.7 percent shooting.Navy has not reached the .500 mark this late in the season since the 1986-87 campaign.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Holy Cross head coach GeorgeBlaney turned to his bench early and got the spark he was looking for, and the Crusaders went on to defeat Mount St. Mary's, 115-82, yesterday.Trailing by 9-4 five minutes into the game, Blaney called upon reserves Frank Powell, Derek Farkas and Rob Feaster. They combined for 32 points in the first half, as Holy Cross took a 58-39 halftime lead and never was threatened in the second half.Chris Cavanagh, a 7-foot senior center, took advantage of the absence of Holy Cross starting center Scott Martzloff, who is out for six weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.

Danny Stewart pulled down 15 rebounds and scored 12points to lead Rider past Loyola, 82-70, Wednesday night. Mike Ringgold scored 14 points, Jonathon Thompson and Anthony Myles each scored 12, Novar Gadson added 11 and Brandon Penn 10 for the Broncs (19-9, 11-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Rider led 39-31 at halftime after shooting 46.2 percent from the field (12-for-26) and 11-for-12 from the free-throw line (91.7 percent) in the opening half. The Greyhounds (13-13, 9-7)

Freshman Julian Boatner scored a career-high 22 points, including six 3-pointers, as visiting William & Mary rolled to its second consecutive victory, 83-68, over host Towson on Wednesday night. The Tribe (6-12, 2-5 Colonial Athletic Association) made 14 3-pointers and connected on a season-high 55.8 percent from the field against the Tigers (4-13, 0-7). Boatner made six of seven 3-point attempts against Towson and connected on four of five free throws. He was one of six Tribe players to make at least one 3-point basket.