Loyola

Five Loyola women received All-Big East honors, including first-team selections Marlee Paton and Taryn VanThof, when the all-conference teams were announced Wednesday. The Greyhounds, who are seeded third in the Big East tournament — which begins Thursday at Georgetown — also had three second-team selections: Annie Thomas (John Carroll), Hannah Schmitt and Maddy Lesher. Several other players with local ties also were honored. Notre Dame's Margaret Smith (McDonogh) was named to the first team, and Georgetown's Kelsi Bozel (Notre Dame Prep)

Winning last year's Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament was a breakthrough for Loyola. This spring, the program was just an overtime loss to Denver on April 13 away from completing an undefeated season in the league and earning the top seed in this week's conference tournament. The No. 5 Greyhounds (11-3) will face No. 8 Ohio State (10-3) in one semifinal Thursday night at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y. No. 3 Denver (11-3) and No. 19 Fairfield (8-6) will tangle in the other semifinal.

ESPN analyst Mark Dixon, who provided color commentary for No. 7 Loyola's 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins on Saturday, will handle play-by-play duties for the championship final of the America East tournament at Stony Brook this Saturday and offer analysis for the title game of the Ivy League tournament at Cornell a day later. The former Blue Jays midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via his account @Dixonlacrosse, addressed questions regarding No. 5 Loyola, No. 11 Maryland and No. 13 Johns Hopkins.

Football McKinnie, Dolphins meet; Vellano to Pats Ravens veteran free agent offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie visited the Miami Dolphins on Monday and underwent a physical, according to a source. There was no deal immediately with the former Pro Bowl lineman, with the source saying: "Nothing more than [a] visit right now. " Another NFL source familiar with Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland 's thinking on McKinnie described this as a "look-see meeting. " McKinnie got a preliminary inquiry before the NFL draft from the San Diego Chargers, and they talked to him Monday.

No. 7 Loyola took great joy in snapping a 13-game losing skid to No. 13 Johns Hopkins with Saturday's 8-4 victory. But even happier times could just be down the road. Saturday's win may have further strengthened the reigning national champion's pursuit of an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament regardless of what occurs in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament being held at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y. later this week. According to Laxpower.com which compiles its own Rating Percentage Index (RPI)

Loyola junior defenseman Joe Fletcher received the final Eastern College Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week award for the season Monday after helping the Greyhounds defeat host Johns Hopkins, 8-4, on Saturday. Fletcher was a big part of the Greyhounds' defense that held the Blue Jays scoreless for the final 29:18 of the game and limited them to 1-for-19 shooting after halftime. He had marking responsibilities for Johns Hopkins' leading scorer, Wells Stanwick (Boys' Latin)

Mike Sawyer never went anywhere. The Loyola senior attackman may have blended into the background because of the development of junior attackman Justin Ward (team-leading 28 assists and 54 points) and the play of the team's defense, but aside from sitting out two games due to an undisclosed injury, he toiled away. But Sawyer, a 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist and a nominee again this year, picked an opportune to re-establish himself on the national scene. His three goals powered the No. 7 Greyhounds to an 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore Saturday.

Loyola, Towson and UMBC learned their seeding in their respective conference tournaments, which will take place later this week. The No. 7 and reigning national champion Greyhounds (11-3) earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. Despite finishing with an identical 6-1 league record as No. 6 Denver (11-3), the Pioneers got the top seed due to a head-to-head tiebreaker stemming from their 13-12 overtime decision against Loyola on April 13. The Greyhounds will face No. 8 Ohio State (10-3 overall and 5-2 in the ECAC)

The No. 8 Loyola boys lacrosse team used a balanced offense - four Dons scored twice - to beat No. 9 Archbishop Spalding, 12-2, on Saturday. Loyola (10-5, 3-3 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference) led 5-1 at halftime and went on a 4-0 run in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. The visiting Cavaliers fell to 10-8, 0-6. Kevin Jackson, Tyler Llewellyn, Devin McNamara and Tim Nordbrook each scored twice for Loyola. The Dons will next have to fight two top teams on the road, No. 5 Gilman on Tuesday and No. 1 Boys' Latin on Friday, and finish at home May 7 against No. 4 Calvert Hall.

Mark D. Sokolik, a corporate lawyer remembered as a fitness and music enthusiast, died last week after complications from a fall. He was 30. A former Hunt Valley resident who attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Mr. Sokolik went on to graduate from the University of Baltimore and become a top student at Georgetown University's Law Center. Since 2010, he had worked as a corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York, one of the nation's top law firms. "Mark was a real gentle person," said Frank Sokolik, his father, whom Mark talked with constantly on the phone.