Navy

WASHINGTON -- The Navy's apology yesterday to the family of the sailor whom officials implicated in the deadly explosion aboard the USS Iowa raised hopes that legal claims may be settled soon and more than two years of anguish brought to an end."I'm optimistic, in light of the apology and the Navy's admission ,, that the accusation shouldn't have been made, that the next step should be for us to sit down and discuss this rationally to arrive at a fair settlement," said Kreig J. Brusnahan, attorney for the family of Petty Officer 2nd Class Clayton M. Hartwig, a gunner's mate.

The Atlantic Coast Conference boasts more teams in the NCAA women's lacrosse quarterfinals than any other conference - No. 1 seed Maryland, No. 3 North Carolina, Duke and Virginia. Those teams have posted a .822 winning percentage against non-conference teams this season. Boston College also made the tournament, but fell in the first weekend as ACC teams went 6-1. Only two ACC teams will make it to the final four, however, since in Saturday's semifinals Maryland will play Duke in College Park and North Carolina will play Virginia in Chapel Hill.

DUKE (1-6) at NAVY (5-2) Time: 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS College Sports Radio: 1090 AM, 1370 AM Last meeting: Duke def. Navy, 41-31, on Sept. 13, 2008. Run to glory: Navy, which has the ninth-best rushing offense in the country at 274.4 yards per game, rushed for 367 yards in Saturday's 35-17 win over Notre Dame. Duke is ranked 107th of 120 FBS teams in rushing defense, yielding 204 yards per game. Touchdown machine: After having difficulty scoring from the red zone earlier this season, the Midshipmen are 12-for-12 from inside opponents' 20-yard line, all TDs, in the past three games.

The one thing Navy could always count on from its women's lacrosse team was a high-powered offense. On Sunday, that offense seemed to run out of gas. The Midshipmen saw their season end with a thud in the NCAA tournament's second round with a resounding 10-5 loss to Duke at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. After taking a 4-2 lead, the Mids (19-2) gave up seven unanswered goals. The story, however, was the Duke defense. The Blue Devils (14-5) constantly harassed Navy's offensive quartet of Jasmine DePompeo, Aimee Gennaro, Kathy Young and Jill Coughlin, and the frustration became evident.

Today's game Delaware (6-3) at Navy (7-3) Time: 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS College Sports Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM Series: Tied 7-7 Last meeting: Delaware beat Navy, 59-52, on Nov. 14, 2007 Murray means business: Junior FB Vince Murray has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the past four games, becoming the first Navy running back to do so since Napoleon McCallum in 1983....

Navy was selected fifth in the Patriot League preseason poll based on, in part, a 4-9 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the conference last season. The Midshipmen finished out of the top four in the league and failed to qualify for the conference tournament for the first time in school history. Joe Alberici is well aware of those results, but the Army coach said overlooking Navy under the guidance of new coach Rick Sowell would be a mistake. “The demise of Navy is greatly exaggerated,” Alberici said last week.

Football coach Ken Niumatalolo released the names Navy's 2011 recruits on Thursday night as 52 prospects representing 16 states went through induction ceremonies and began plebe summer. "We are very excited about the group we have coming in this year," Niumatalolo said. "If they work hard and do the things they are supposed to do in Bancroft Hall, in the classroom, in the weight room and on the practice field they have a chance to be a part of something special. " The state of Florida produced the most prospects with eight, while six incoming recruits are from Texas.

Navy's 9-4 loss to No. 9 Lehigh Friday night was exacerbated by the disappearance of the team's offense, which failed to score a goal over the final 42 minutes, 2 seconds of the contest. It was the first time that the Midshipmen had been shut out in a half since April 23 when Johns Hopkins blanked the offense en route to a 14-5 rout. In retrospect, coach Rick Sowell said the offense was stymied by its own inability to execute and a Mountain Hawks defense that ranks first in Division I after allowing an average of 5.5 goals.

Here is the opening installment of a series that checks in with the seven Division I programs in the state to give a glimpse into the past and the future. Teams are scheduled to appear according to the chronological order in which their seasons ended. So Monday begins with a visit with Navy. REVIEW The good: As the Midshipmen learned last year when longtime coach Richie Meade was dismissed, the bottom line is wins and losses. In that department, the team improved from last year's 4-9 record, going 6-6 this season.

There were times in recent seasons when Navy's offense would go weeks without making any huge gaffes. The snaps from center Brady DeMell to quarterbacks Ricky Dobbs and Kriss Proctor would be crisp, and thehandoffs from Dobbs and Proctor to fullbacks Vince Murray and Alexander Teich textbook. Even if the Midshipmen did not run the true triple option, particularly with Dobbs, Navy often played mistake-free. The rushing game was ranked in the top six in each of the last four seasons, including No. 1 in 2008.

Navy's women's lacrosse players made it clear that they are not in the NCAA tournament this time to enjoy the experience. After three years of first-round losses, the eighth-seeded Mids are in it to win. Monmouth, which lost in a play-in game last season, apparently had the same idea. The Hawks made 11th-ranked Navy work for everything it got Friday, especially in the first half. Monmouth scored first and was within one until the final 7.1 seconds of the first half, when Mids senior attacker Jasmine DePompeo dished out the first her five assists and sparked a five-goal run that carried Navy to a 12-6 victory at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for its first NCAA tournament win in six years as a Division I program.

College football Ex-Navy coach Hardin selected for HOF Former Navy football coach Wayne Hardin will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced Tuesday. Hardin is the 24th person affiliated with the Naval Academy to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the third head coach, joining Gil Dobie (17-3 at Navy from 1917 to 1919) and George Welsh (55-46-1 at Navy from 1973 to 1981). Hardin will be officially inducted at the National Football Foundation's awards dinner Dec.10 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and will be enshrined in the summer of 2014 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

The commander of the Navy unit that included two sailors who drowned at Aberdeen Proving Ground in February has been relieved of his duties, the Navy said Wednesday. The Navy said Cmdr. Michael Runkle, who led the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, was relieved because of a "loss of confidence in his ability to command. " Diver 1st Class James Reyher, 28, of Caldwell, Ohio, and Diver 2nd Class Ryan Harris, 23, of Gladstone, Mo., died Feb. 26 during a training exercise at a testing facility at Aberdeen known as the Super Pond.

Navy coach Cindy Timchal believes the combination of the Midshipmen's stellar season and the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium setting should be enough to earn Navy one of eight seeds in the NCAA Division I women's tournament when the bracket is announced Sunday night. The top eight seeds will play at home on the tournament's first weekend, May 10 and 12. The No. 12 Midshipmen, who won their fourth straight Patriot League tournament championship last Sunday, certainly have the record (16-1)

A wind power project proposed on the lower Eastern Shore that's struggling to overcome objections from the Navy has a new, airborne worry - bald eagles. Federal wildlife biologists say the population of the once-rare national bird has grown so much that there are about 400 bald eagles along the mid-Atlantic coast, including 30 nests within 10 miles of the project in Somerset County, and three in the immediate vicinity. Declaring the area "extremely attractive" to the birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has warned the developer of the Great Bay wind project that it "appears to present significant risk to eagles" and urged it to scale back its plans.

Naval Petty Officer Alonzo M. Gladden Jr. had been back home for only four hours last October when an unknown person opened fire on him - killing him shortly after he dropped off his grandmother in South Baltimore. Months later, his killing remains unsolved, and city police have turned to Baltimore's Guardian Angels for help with the case. On Sunday, standing amid broken liquor bottles at the corner of Hollins Ferry Road and Patapsco Avenue, the volunteers and Gladden's relatives passed out fliers and held up signs asking passing motorists for leads in the case.

Lansdowne High School graduate Navy Seaman Apprentice Donald Johnston completed basic training at the command center in Great Lakes, Ill.

Several opponents have slowed Navy's high-powered offense recently by holding the ball for long possessions, but the Midshipmen made sure Holy Cross could not do that in Sunday's Patriot League women's lacrosse championship. The No. 12 Midshipmen jumped ahead early and kept rolling to an eight-goal halftime lead en route to a 14-4 victory for their fourth straight Patriot League tournament title at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The win ended a string of three-straight one-goal wins, including two in double overtime.

Navy junior long-stick midfielder Pat Kiernan has been named to the All-Patriot League men's lacrosse first team, the conference announced Tuesday. Kiernan's 26 caused turnovers this spring are the third-most by a player in Navy program history, while he is the school's all-time leader in the category with 51. This is the second straight year Kiernan has garnered All-Patriot League honors; he received second-team recognition as a sophomore. Named second-team all-league were Bucknell senior faceoff specialist Ryan Gutowski (Calvert Hall)