Owls

The No. 6 Westminster Owls (3-0) had never been to the Sally E. Nyborg Field Hockey Invitational at Roland Park before Saturday but had no trouble making themselves at home. The Owls warmed up with a 2-1 victory over host Roland Park and then, with goalie Emily Cauliflower making 14 saves, beat No. 10 Fallston, 3-1. Westminster senior midfielder Lindsay Nichols scored both winning goals. "I took my time and set up for the play [against Fallston]," Nichols said. "I was aiming for a corner, but it went between the goalie's legs.

The 36th Baltimore Catholic League basketball tournament final will feature an encore tonight at 7:30, as No. 1 Towson Catholic and No. 2 Mount St. Joseph advanced with semifinal victories last night. Towson Catholic (30-4) blew out Cardinal Gibbons, 66-43, and Mount St. Joseph (25-7) routed Archbishop Spalding, 63-35, to set up the rematch tonight at Loyola College's Reitz Arena. The Gaels won last year's final, 62-52, on the way to a record-breaking 38-1 season. Mount St. Joseph went undefeated last season in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference and in the BCL, and tonight the Gaels stand in the way of the Owls' attempt to duplicate the feat.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR Malcolm Delaney Towson Catholic After a 64-59 victory over rival Mount St. Joseph in early February that clinched a league title, Delaney talked about the big difference in his play as a senior. "Last year I went away from the ball a lot [in crucial situations]," he said. "I didn't take it upon myself to help the team out more. So, this year I promised my team that I would thrive under pressure." Delaney did just that, and his change in approach helped turned the top-ranked Owls into a powerhouse.

Despite losing three games during the regular season for the first time in as long as anyone in the program can remember, the No. 2 Severna Park field hockey team never lost its swagger. The Falcons responded to those losses by rolling through their first three regional playoff games while outscoring their opponents 18-2. Last night against No. 7 Westminster in the Class 4A state semifinals, Severna Park got an early score by Julie Gardner and its defense did not allow the Owls a shot on goal in a 1-0 victory.

The first major hurdle is in the books for top-ranked Towson Catholic. The Owls rolled to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship, 71-49 over No. 3 McDonogh at Gilman last night. Played in front of a capacity crowd of more than 1,200, the Owls claimed their first MIAA A Conference crown since 2001 and their third overall, the other in 1999 after the Maryland Scholastic Association became the MIAA in 1995-96. "We're trying to go out with the Catholic League championship and go to Alhambra and try to knock off DeMatha," said senior Malcolm Delaney, who had a game-high 22 points for the Owls.

A pair of free throws by junior guard Keith Jenifer gave third-ranked Towson Catholic a one-point lead with 32 seconds left and the host Owls added two more in the final eight seconds to upset No. 1 Archbishop Spalding, 63-60, yesterday.Thabo Letsebe and Gil Goodrich, who was fouled with a second left after making a steal, each made the back end of trips to the free-throw line for the final margin before an overflow crowd.In avenging a 71-68 overtime loss at Spalding on Jan. 15, the No. 3 Owls (19-4)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- For all that inflation has affected, one price has remained unchanged: the cost of dreaming."You can still do that for free," John Chaney was reminded."

HOUSTON -- For a while last night, it looked as if Navy would have its way with Rice. But the Owls saved their best for last as Derek Crabtree's 31-yard field goal with 2: 27 to play lifted the host team to a 20-17, come-from-behind victory over the Midshipmen before 44,217 at Rice Stadium.Navy (1-3) led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but was outscored 20-3 over the final 32 minutes."When you have a 14-0 lead, you have to put the dagger in them. You don't give them a chance for new life," Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie said.

Amy Ridgely made two wishes and got them both.The senior goalkeeper registered eight saves, and teammates Tricia Teal and Rachel Lindsay notched a goal each to help propel visiting Westminster to a 2-0 victory over North Carroll last night.With the win, the 8-2-1 Owls swept the two-game series against the Panthers and clinched the county title with a 4-0 county record. The victory also ended a string of frustrating losses to North Carroll."At the beginning of the game, I told Coach Shu [Bryan Shumaker]

Old Mill center fielder Brandon White said he knew it was just a matter of time before he and the 15th-ranked Patriots got to Westminster ace Mike Taylor in yesterday's Class 4A East quarterfinal.After spending most of the game lagging behind the right-hander's heater, however, they did it with little time to spare.Trailing by a run, Old Mill scored three in the seventh inning, including two on White's triple into the gap in right-center, as the Patriots came from behind to beat the host Owls, 5-3.White, who entered his final at-bat 0-for-3, said he was anxious for another chance.

John Haley knew he was taking something of a gamble when, in 2006, he chose to play football at Temple. The Owls, at the time, were coming off an 0-11 season, their 15th consecutive losing record. They had recently been booted from the Big East Conference and were playing an independent schedule. They also weren't offering him a scholarship, just a chance to join newly hired coach Al Golden's walk-on program, the Local 215. Haley, who now starts at outside linebacker, seems to have made the right call.

The No. 6 Westminster Owls (3-0) had never been to the Sally E. Nyborg Field Hockey Invitational at Roland Park before Saturday but had no trouble making themselves at home. The Owls warmed up with a 2-1 victory over host Roland Park and then, with goalie Emily Cauliflower making 14 saves, beat No. 10 Fallston, 3-1. Westminster senior midfielder Lindsay Nichols scored both winning goals. "I took my time and set up for the play [against Fallston]," Nichols said. "I was aiming for a corner, but it went between the goalie's legs.

In such a low-scoring game as Tuesday night's state Class 4A-3A girls lacrosse final, it would be easy to pick out a handful of critical moments. For No. 5 Severna Park, none was more important than a short second-half stretch in which goalie Sarah Lloyd made two terrific saves to preserve a tie and put the Falcons in position to win their third straight title, 7-5, over No. 15 Westminster at UMBC Stadium. After the Owls' Ashleigh Rohrback tied the score at five minutes into the second half, Lloyd, a converted midfielder who finished with 10 saves, made two big ones and the Owls hit the post once.

Throughout the regular season, the No. 12 Towson Catholic boys basketball team showed it could play with any team, though it sometimes struggled to close out games. The Owls had no such difficulty last night against visiting Mount St. Joseph in the opening round of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs. With strong defense throughout and poise at the free-throw line in the closing minutes, the Owls pulled out a 56-51 win over the No. 13 Gaels to advance to the semifinal round.

Greg Dillon accounted for 287 yards and two touchdowns, and Grambling State clinched a spot in the Southwestern Athletic Conference title game with a 29-14 victory over Southern in the Bayou Classic yesterday in New Orleans. Dillon was 9-for-13 for 151 yards with a score. He also rushed for 136 yards and a score for Grambling (10-2, 7-0). His performance helped second-year coach Rod Broadway win his first Bayou Classic and his second SWAC West Division title. If Southern (6-5, 5-2) had won, it would have forced a three-way tie among Grambling, Southern and Prairie View atop the SWAC West Division.

IJAMSVILLE - Westminster pushed Linganore around on the opening drive and scored a touchdown 1:57 into last night's game to quiet the overflow Frederick County crowd. But absolutely nothing else went right for the Owls after that. Linganore scored on Pat Balderson's 80-yard run on its first play from scrimmage and kept making big plays that No. 14 Westminster couldn't answer en route to a surprisingly easy, 58-7 victory in a Monacacy Valley Athletic League game. Westminster (5-1, 1-1 in the Chesapeake Conference)

Troy@Florida Atlantic 8 p.m. [ESPN2] Do not scoff at the Troy Trojans (2-2). After all, they beat Middle Tennessee, unlike another state university we could name. And their schedule includes Ohio State, LSU and Oklahoma State. The Owls (1-4) are no slouches in scheduling, either, facing Texas, Michigan State and Minnesota. And Middle Tennessee, too. (But, like Maryland, Florida Atlantic lost.) The Owls are coached by Howard Schnellenberger, who was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year last season, giving him his first conference coaching award at age 74. This game is at Lockhart Stadium, located next to the Orioles' spring training site.

Dominating possession throughout and finding its scoring touch in the second half, the No. 2 River Hill boys soccer team beat No. 5 Bel Air, 4-0, in the season opener for both teams yesterday in Clarksville. Jason Plumhoff gave the defending Class 2A state champion Hawks a 1-0 halftime lead, and the home team got second-half goals by Devon Gluck, Jake Pace and Jon Talbot. "Aside from finishing in the first half, we played very well," River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. The Hawks took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Talbot won space on the right side and sent a cross to Plumhoff.

Sue Ackermann recorded a game-high 10 points on seven goals and three assists as host Salisbury topped St. Mary's for a third time this season, 22-9, in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament yesterday. The Sea Gulls (21-0) beat St. Mary's, 18-7, on April 25 in the Capital Athletic Conference championship, their sixth straight title, and also won 18-11 on April 5. Salisbury faces Catholic in the regional final at 1 p.m. today. Catholic defeated Rowan, 17-15. CCBC-Catonsville 14, Herkimer County CC 6 --The top-ranked Cardinals held host Herkimer scoreless for 26 minutes en route to winning in a National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association semifinal.

As the seconds ticked down in last night's Carroll County girls lacrosse game, the loudest screams came from neither No. 14 Liberty nor host Westminster. Instead, they emanated from a set of bleachers on the opposite side of the field, where players from idle Winters Mill couldn't contain their enthusiasm. With Liberty's 7-6 win, the Falcons earned their first county title, besting the Owls on a series of tiebreakers. "It's kind of different when it's out of your hands - when you're not actually in the game playing for it," Winters Mill coach Courtney Vaughn said.