Northeast Conference

After finishing the last two years without advancing to the NCAA tournament, Mount St. Mary's finally has an opportunity to play in the coveted postseason. For the first time in its three-year existence, the Northeast Conference (NEC) has an automatic qualifier that goes to the champion of the league tournament. And as the Mountaineers (4-6) prepare to dive into conference play with a home contest against Sacred Heart (0-8) this Saturday, the carrot of an automatic qualifier has added a little spice to the team's next five games.

Mike Owona was set to play basketball next year for a program transitioning to the Division I level. But after a coaching change, the John Carroll senior will instead suit up for an established DI team that has appeared in four NCAA tournaments. Owona committed Sunday to Fairleigh Dickinson, a Northeast Conference school located in Teaneck, N.J. “It feels pretty good,” Owona said. “I finally have it out of my mind. I feel good about it.” Owona had been committed to UMass-Lowell, a Division II powerhouse that will play its first season of DI competition during the 2013-14 season.

UMBC made its departure from the Big South Conference official yesterday by accepting an invitation to the Northeast Conference, beginning in September 1998.The Northeast Conference last expanded when Rider accepted an invitation in 1991 and began participation the following year. It offers championships in 16 sports, all of which are sponsored by UMBC.Two years ago, UMBC submitted a letter of resignation to the Big South, but rescinded it last summer."This really is quite a relief to us," athletic director Charles Brown said at a news conference on the school's campus.

When Mount St. Mary's secured a 10-9 upset of Northeast Conference leader Bryant last Saturday, coach Tom Gravante was gratified to see the team play with the kind of intensity, concentration and decision making he thought would be absent after the players learned that they were eliminated from contention for a spot in the four-team conference tournament. But the Mountaineers' effort left Gravante wondering what might have been if they had played that well in conference losses to Sacred Heart (14-5 on March 30)

The Mount St. Mary's team that pulled off impressive victories over Bucknell and Delaware in February seems like a distant memory now. That's because the Mountaineers have dropped their last four contests, including opening play in the Northeast Conference with back-to-back losses to Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac. The team's numbers have precipitously declined since diving into the conference schedule. The offense is averaging more than three goals fewer (6.5 goals from 10.7), the defense is just as porous (13 goals from 13.3)

There's no nice way to put it for Mount St. Mary's, which must defeat Sacred Heart this Saturday at home and Wagner next Saturday on the road to finish in fourth place in the Northeast Conference and qualify for the league tournament. It's a humbling scenario for the Mountaineers, who won the inaugural tournament championship last year, but it's the situation created by Saturday's 17-14 loss to Robert Morris, which dropped Mount St. Mary's to 0-3 in the Northeast Conference. Coach Tom Gravante said Tuesday morning that the players are aware of the must-win scenario facing them.

After a 17-14 loss to Robert Morris on April 14, Mount St. Mary's dropped to 0-3 in the Northeast Conference and was in danger of becoming the league's first tournament champion to fail to qualify the next season. But the Mountaineers secured wins of 9-8 and 16-7 against Sacred Heart and Wagner, respectively, in back-to-back Saturdays and earned the No. 4 seed in the tourney, which begins Friday at Robert Morris. “That was the team goal,” coach Tom Gravante said Wednesday.

Saturday's 12-8 loss to Quinnipiac in its Northeast Conference opener was painful for Mount St. Mary's, but it's not crippling for the preseason favorite to repeat as league champion. The Mountaineers (3-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference) can get back into the race, but face a formidable stretch with road contests against Bryant (8-2, 1-0) this Saturday and Robert Morris (7-3, 1-0) on April 14. It's a daunting task that coach Tom Gravante has already digested. “We have the ability to sweep and go 2-1 or we could very easily be 0-3 at the end of the Robert Morris weekend and fighting for a playoff spot, which would be really disappointing,” he said Tuesday.

Mount St. Mary's is fully aware of the implications of Saturday road contest at Northeast Conference foe Robert Morris. Win and the Mountaineers (3-6 overall and 0-2 in the league) can vault into the race to finish in the top four and secure a spot in the season-ending conference tournament. Lose to the Colonials (8-3, 2-0) and the Mountaineers will be at risk of missing the postseason altogether after capturing last year's tournament championship. The idea of Saturday's meeting looming as a must-win situation isn't lost on coach Tom Gravante - or his players.

An uneven season became even rockier after Mount St. Mary's dropped its Northeast Conference (NEC) opener to Quinnipiac Saturday. While the 12-8 score was surprising, what was even more stunning was that the reigning league champion Mountaineers (3-5 overall and 0-1 in the NEC) fell to a Bobcats squad (2-6, 1-0) that had opened the season with six consecutive losses. “It's conference, man, and it's a whole new ballgame,” Mount St. Mary's coach Tom Gravante said Tuesday morning.

The visiting Loyola Greyhounds put a 13-12 overtime loss against Denver on April 13 behind them, using runs of six and seven unanswered goals to defeat Hobart, 19-11, on Saturday. Loyola's starting attack of Mike Sawyer (four goals, two assists), Zach Herreweyers (three, two) and Justin Ward (three, one) accounted for 10 goals and 15 points. The Greyhounds (10-3, 6-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) scored the game's first six goals, but the Statesmen (6-7, 2-4) answered with five.

Last Sunday's 12-11 loss to Robert Morris saddled Mount St. Mary's with a winless record in the Northeast Conference and a spring without a berth in the league tournament. The Mountaineers (4-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference) could end the regular season with victories over Bryant (5-8, 3-0) this Saturday and Wagner (1-10, 0-3) on April 27, but they would be unable to vault over the Colonials (6-5, 2-1), Quinnipiac (5-6, 2-1) and Sacred Heart (2-9, 2-1) as all three of those teams own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Mount St. Mary's.

Loyola sophomore Hannah Schmitt stunned No. 5 Notre Dame (10-1, 4-1 Big East Conference) with a sudden-death goal to hand the host Fighting Irish its first loss of the season on Friday, 14-13. In the second overtime period, Notre Dame won the draw but turned the ball over to freshman Annie Thomas. Greyhounds sophomore Sydney Thomas chased down the clear attempt and found Schmitt open on the left wing. Schmitt beat the defense down the field and scored the game-winning goal. No. 20 Loyola (6-6, 3-1)

The Mount St. Mary's carousel at goalkeeper has spun back to Adam Borgogelli. The sophomore is expected to start Sunday's Northeast Conference game at Robert Morris, coach Tom Gravante announced Friday. Freshman Frankie McCarthy had started the last two contests, but he was pulled after surrendering seven goals and making just one save in 10 minutes, 34 seconds of play in the team's 12-8 loss to Quinnipiac last Saturday. Borgogelli  - who has made nine starts this season - replaced McCarthy and allowed five goals while making nine stops in the last 49:26.

The Mount St. Mary's team that pulled off impressive victories over Bucknell and Delaware in February seems like a distant memory now. That's because the Mountaineers have dropped their last four contests, including opening play in the Northeast Conference with back-to-back losses to Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac. The team's numbers have precipitously declined since diving into the conference schedule. The offense is averaging more than three goals fewer (6.5 goals from 10.7), the defense is just as porous (13 goals from 13.3)

R.G. Keenan (Boys' Latin) scored his only goal of the game six seconds into overtime to lift the No. 4 North Carolina men's lacrosse team to an 11-10 win over No. 12 Johns Hopkins on Saturday. The Tar Heels (7-3) never trailed until John Greeley scored with 4:36 remaining for a 10-9 Blue Jays lead. North Carolina tied it with 90 seconds left on a goal by Davey Emala (Gilman) to force overtime. The Tar Heels led by as many as three goals, but Johns Hopkins (6-3) kept it close with a 48-37 shot advantage and 13-11 faceoff advantage.

Tom Sullivan knew he had made a mistake.The fourth-year UMBC basketball coach could see that most of his players were not paying attention to the movie, and that most of his assistant coaches were looking elsewhere. "The Deer Hunter" was clearly getting two thumbs down from this audience."At least," Sullivan said, "it will put them to sleep."Which wasn't so bad, considering that it was nearing 11 p.m. Monday and the Retrievers were on their way from their Catonsville campus to a hotel in Secaucus, N.J., where they would stay before Tuesday's game against St. Francis, N.Y., in Brooklyn.

When Mount St. Mary's secured a 10-9 upset of Northeast Conference leader Bryant last Saturday, coach Tom Gravante was gratified to see the team play with the kind of intensity, concentration and decision making he thought would be absent after the players learned that they were eliminated from contention for a spot in the four-team conference tournament. But the Mountaineers' effort left Gravante wondering what might have been if they had played that well in conference losses to Sacred Heart (14-5 on March 30)

College basketball Loyola alumnus Wojcik hired to first head coaching job by San Jose State Loyola College graduate Dave Wojcik was named head coach at San Jose State. Wojcik spent the past three seasons as the associate head coach at Boise State, which received an at-large bid to this year's NCAA tournament and recorded the second 20-win season in three years and the fourth-most wins during the regular season in school history. Wojcik, who had the only triple double in Loyola history in 1989, returned to his alma mater in 1993 as an assistant and helped coach the Greyhounds to the team's first NCAA tournament appearance and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in 1994.

After finishing the last two years without advancing to the NCAA tournament, Mount St. Mary's finally has an opportunity to play in the coveted postseason. For the first time in its three-year existence, the Northeast Conference (NEC) has an automatic qualifier that goes to the champion of the league tournament. And as the Mountaineers (4-6) prepare to dive into conference play with a home contest against Sacred Heart (0-8) this Saturday, the carrot of an automatic qualifier has added a little spice to the team's next five games.