New Hampshire

Towson (1-9) @ New Hampshire (6-4) Time: Noon Radio: 1370 AM Site: Cowell Stadium Series: New Hampshire leads 6-0. What's at stake: The seventh meeting between the teams is the regular-season finale for both. Towson has not defeated a Colonial Athletic Association opponent since beating Rhode Island on Oct. 10, 2009. The Tigers ride an eight-game losing streak into Saturday's contest after falling, 28-18, to Maine last week. New Hampshire is ranked No. 14 in The Sports Network/Fathead.

UMBC goalie Kendall Mason could not have done much more to keep the Retrievers in Saturday's critical women's lacrosse game against New Hampshire. The senior had eight saves and held the Wildcats to six goals. With those stats, a goalie should get the win, but the Retrievers committed too many costly fouls and did not take advantage of some great opportunities on offense, falling to the Wildcats, 6-5, in a game that cost them a berth in next weekend's America East tournament. The Retrievers (8-8, 3-3 America East)

Matt Miller thought he could play Division I basketball coming out of high school, and the Mount St. Joseph guard did have his fair share of DI inquiries. But when none of those interested colleges offered him a scholarship, Miller packed his bags for Greensburg, Pa., where for two years he suited up for Division II Seton Hill. After averaging 16.3 points for the Griffins as a freshman and a team-high 20.1 points as a sophomore, the former Gaels star decided to try his luck at the DI level once again.

Let us beat the gun-rights crowd to the punch and agree with them right here and now that firearms aren't the only dangerous devices out there in dire need of greater regulation. It seems that certain types of fireworks may need to be added to that list, too. For those who aren't up on the latest word from the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, it appears some or all of the gunpowder allegedly used in the manufacture of bombs by Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came from fireworks.

- Maryland coach Gary Williams insisted this week that his Terps wouldn't be distracted by the thought of their impending trip to paradise and potential matchups with other high-profile teams in this year's Maui Invitational. Maybe Maryland just pretended that New Hampshire was another school located in a place called Durham. It didn't take long for Maryland to realize that this team, from bucolic Durham, N.H., wasn't that other team, from Durham, N.C. The Terps took control early and turned in their most consistent performance of the season, cruising to an 82-55 victory at Comcast Center.

— Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley took center stage before a convention of New Hampshire Democrats Saturday, rallying the faithful in a state important to his party's hopes to hold the White House in November — and to his own future should he run for president. The 22-minute keynote address to the New Hampshire Democratic Party marked O'Malley's debut as the main attraction at an event in this first-in-the-nation primary state. The visit was part of a four-state tour kicking off what looks to be a summer packed with political travel for the 49-year-old governor.

No. 7 New Hampshire (7-2, 5-1) @ No. 12 Towson (7-2, 5-1 Colonial Athletic Association) Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Site: Johnny Unitas Stadium Radio: 1570 AM Series: New Hampshire leads 7-0. What's at stake: In a critical contest between two of the three teams tied in first place in the CAA, Towson will look to beat New Hampshire for the first time in program history. The Tigers are coming off a 40-30 win against Maine, which gives them a school-record five CAA wins this season, and will honor their 13 seniors before the game.

The politics-by-the-numbers game we play has been quirkily friendly to Mitt Romney. He was able to waltz into New Hampshire a week before its Republican presidential primary boasting of being a winner in the Iowa caucuses. He could do so despite the fact that he beat former Sen. Rick Santorum, a mere asterisk in the standings a week earlier, by the infinitesimal margin of eight votes. In doing so, and after spending millions in an 11th-hour effort to make up for his near-absenteeism in Iowa, he actually won six fewer votes than he had garnered in his second-place finish there four years ago. Until that late gambling surge, the former Massachusetts governor had pretty much kissed off Iowa as unwelcome terrain.

EXETER, N.H. -- "I haven't been here since Monday. Won't be back 'til tomorrow," Bob Dole told supporters the other day when he arrived for a TV debate in Manchester, N.H.Presidential candidates always have plenty of time for New Hampshire, even when there appears to be more important business elsewhere -- as there is now, in Congress, where it's make-or-break time for the Republican revolution.The Kansas senator's three visits in four days may seem excessive, especially with the primary election more than four months away.

When New Hampshire, a conservative, Republican-dominated state, takes the lead on a controversial issue, it's worth taking note. Last week, the state's lawmakers approved a resolution volunteering their state as a testing ground for RU-486, the French drug that has been termed an "abortion pill" because it prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. With RU-486, ending a pregnancy can be almost as simple as taking an aspirin. The pill is seen as a grave threat by abortion opponents, and they have convinced the French manufacturer of the drug that trying to market it in this country would result in JTC boycotts and other political troubles to the manufacturer)

No. 5 Cornell missed a shot with 20 seconds left that would have tied the game, and host No. 7 Syracuse held on for a 13-12 win Wednesday night in men's lacrosse. It was the first time the Orange (8-2) has beaten the Big Red since 2010. Cornell (10-2) had five shots hit the pipes in the game, including Connor English's last-minute shot that hit the crossbar. Syracuse goalkeeper Dominic Lamolinara (St. Mary's) had 12 saves, including eight in the second half. National women No. 17 Boston College 10, New Hampshire 9, OT: Sarah Mannelly scored the winning goal with 15 seconds left in the first half of overtime as the visiting Eagles rallied to avoid being upset by the Wildcats (4-8)

The No. 20 Duke men's lacrosse team jumped all over host No. 4 North Carolina early and often Wednesday night. A strong first-half performance and finish led the Blue Devils to an 11-8 upset of the rival Tar Heels. Jordan Wolf finished with a game-high three goals for Duke, which led 8-4 at halftime. A third-quarter lull let Carolina back in as the Heels went on a 3-0 run to cut the gap to 8-7. But Duke outscored Carolina 3-1 in the fourth, with Wolf adding the final goal with 1:49 left.

Navy's women's lacrosse team had never come closer than within seven points of a Top 20 opponent, so they turned a few heads Monday when they came within 15-12 of No. 4 and defending national champion Northwestern. Perhaps what shows how far the No. 15 Midshipmen have come was their reaction to losing that game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. They weren't happy about coming so close. The game was tied seven times, lastly at 10 with 17 minutes to go, so the Midshipmen thought they could have won. “We were in a position to make a statement and I think it's a matter of getting over that hump,” said Navy coach Cindy Timchal, whose team had fallen to then-No.

I can only hope that the scourge of racism is finally purged from Stewartstown and Pinkham's Grant. These are two of 10 New Hampshire towns covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires local officials to get permission, or "preclearance," on any changes to their election laws. Stewartstown has just over a thousand souls in it and is 99 percent white. In 1970, when it was put under the authority of Section 5, the census listed two blacks out of its 1,008 residents.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a big lead in an early presidential primary poll in New Hampshire released Thursday, underscoring the challenge Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has before him should he decide to seek the Democratic nomination against her. Clinton, who has not declared whether she will run for president in 2016, would have support from 63 percent of New Hampshire primary voters, according to the University of New Hampshire...

President Barack Obama no longer needs Gov. Martin O'Malley as a top campaign surrogate, and the Democratic Governors Association is set to elect someone else as its chairman on Monday when the group meets in Los Angeles. But neither development is likely to push Maryland's governor off the national stage. "Once you achieve a certain stature, which I believe O'Malley has, then you are going to remain a sought-after speaker, surrogate, television guest," said Anita Dunn, a national political consultant who was an adviser to the Obama campaign.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The Democratic presidential campaign, in which Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley both started by vowing to take the high road and stay on it, wound up in a ditch in the New Hampshire primary. Actually, the vice president had already slipped off that road in Iowa. He misrepresented fellow-Democrat Bradley's health-care proposal there by saying Bradley was abandoning the elderly by eliminating Medicaid -- without reporting that Mr. Bradley's plan called for something better to replace it. Mr. Gore in Iowa also resurrected a Bradley Senate vote against a disaster relief amendment -- without noting that the former senator had voted for the relief bill itself.

A year after leading Towson to its first Football Championship Subdivision appearance in school history, fourth-year coach Rob Ambrose reacted angrily Sunday after his 7-4 Tigers were snubbed by the NCAA selection committee for an invitation to this season's playoffs. Despite finishing the season on a four-game winning streak, including a 64-35 demolition of playoff-bound New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., Saturday, Towson failed to be invited into the 20-team field after losing in the opening round to Lehigh in 2011.

No. 19 Towson (6-4, 5-2 Colonial Athletic Association) vs. No. 7 New Hampshire (8-2, 6-1 CAA) When: Saturday, noon Site: Cowell Stadium, Durham, N.H. Radio: http://www.TowsonTigers.com Series: New Hampshire leads, 7-1 What's at stake: Thanks to three straight conference wins, Towson is in position to defend its CAA crown and earn a spot in the FCS playoffs. But it won't come easily playing against the conference-leading Wildcats on the road.