Hopkins

Friends and former classmates gathered Saturday at Johns Hopkins University to remember Anne Smedinghoff, a Foreign Service officer who was killed in a bombing in Afghanistan earlier this month, sharing stories of a too-short life marked by adventure. As photographs of Smedinghoff in front of monuments and ruins around the world flashed by on projector screens, friends recalled her various escapades, including a coast-to-coast cycling trip, which saw the young woman eat a live bug to fulfill an item on a scavenger hunt list.

The Loyola men's lacrosse team made sure overtime was not even a possibility Saturday. No. 7 Loyola took a lead with 1:29 left in the first quarter and never relinquished it en route to an 8-4 win over No. 13 Johns Hopkins before an announced 7,905 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. It was in stark contrast to last year, when the Greyhounds opened with a nearly 19-minute scoreless stretch and surrendered five goals in a 10-9 overtime setback to the Blue Jays. The victory helped the reigning national champions snap a 13-game losing streak to Johns Hopkins, capturing their first win in the series since 1999 and their first triumph at Homewood Field since 1998.

The Tewaaraton Foundation today announced the Tewaaraton Award men's and women's nominees, including 2012 winners Katie Schwarzmann (Maryland) and Peter Baum (Colgate). Twenty-five women and 25 men were selected as nominees, from which 10 finalists (five women, five men) will be announced May 9. The winners will be honored May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. On the men's side, five schools had two players nominated, including Albany (Lyle Thompson, Ty Thompson)

Loyola junior defenseman Joe Fletcher and Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin do not know each other personally. But they can still appreciate each other's skills from afar. "He's probably one of the best defenders I've seen play," Fletcher said of Durkin. "The style he has, he's very physical and aggressive, but he's also controlled. I've been watching him as he's developed. Just the way he plays and the way he does things, he has a good balance between being aggressive and being smart.

Debate over whether Johns Hopkins has done enough to warrant an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament continues, but the general consensus is that if the No. 13 Blue Jays (8-4) lose to No. 7 Loyola (10-3) on Saturday, the program's streak of 41 consecutive appearances in the postseason will be perilously close to ending. But if the scrutiny associated with the team's fate grows elsewhere, senior defenseman Tucker Durkin said the conversation has not reached the players. “We haven't really talked about playoffs very much,” he said.

A win this Saturday against No. 13 Johns Hopkins would strengthen No. 7 Loyola's bid for an at-large spot in next month's NCAA tournament. It would also do away with this pesky matter of a 13-game losing streak to the Blue Jays. The Greyhounds haven't won a contest in this series since 1999 - a slide that includes last year's 10-9 overtime loss en route to capturing the school's first Division I national championship in any sport. Ending that skid is a weighty motivation for the players.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to help you become more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Johns Hopkins midfielder Sarah Taylor, from Farnham, England. Taylor, who leads the Blue Jays in goals with 36, played for the Scottish national team in the 2007 under-19 world championships and for England in 2011. This summer, she will play for England in the elite World Cup. Taylor also has 23 draw controls and 17 ground balls for the Blue Jays, who visit Ohio State in the regular-season finale Sunday before hosting the American Lacrosse Conference tournament at Homewood Field beginning May 2. The junior is majoring in biology with a focus on pre-med.

Senior attackman Zach Palmer and senior midfielder John Greeley sat out No. 13 Johns Hopkins' 15-4 thrashing of Navy on Saturday, and their status for this Saturday's regular-season home finale against No. 7 Loyola remains unresolved. Palmer, who is tied for second on the Blue Jays (8-4) in assists (12) and ranked third in points (24), has been sidelined for the team's last two games after sustaining an undisclosed injury during practice on April 10. His absence has been mitigated by the play of senior John Kaestner, who has totaled five goals and three assists in two starts for Palmer.

John Hopkins professor Jon Lorsch will replace neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson as commencement speaker at the institution's School of Medicine. Lorsch will become director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences this summer. He has spent the last 12 years studying how cells make proteins, a process that can help look at why people get cancer. Carson voluntarily stepped down this month as commencement speaker for Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Education after making controversial comments about same-sex marriage.

Dr. Paul S. Lietman, a retired Johns Hopkins professor of medicine, pharmacology, molecular sciences and pediatrics, died of congestive heart failure April 20 at his Ruxton home. He was 79. "He was a gifted educator and was beloved by generations of Hopkins medical students," said Dr. Myron L. Weisfeldt, the medical school's chair and director of the Department Of Medicine. "He relished mentoring young colleagues and single-handedly recruited numerous young physicians. " He worked on drug development for HIV infections and herpes and was a pioneer in antiviral treatments, his medical colleagues said.