Rutgers

Franklin wide receiver Ian Thomas had a few reservations about his intention to sign with Rutgers after the Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano announced his departure late last week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a lot of thought, however, Thomas decided Rutgers was still the place for him. “I can't stand here and tell anyone that I will be playing in the NFL,” Thomas said during his Wednesday morning signing ceremony, “but I can guarantee I will have a degree from Rutgers in the next four years.” In the Franklin gym before a crowd of family, teammates and friends, Thomas signed his national letter of intent to accept a full football scholarship from the New Jersey university on the opening day of the football signing period.

Carrying a .667 batting average into this week, it's clear senior shortstop Melanie Slowinski has had her share of big games for No. 1 Glen Burnie. When asked to pick the best of her four years playing for the Gophers, she took time to consider before coming up with a two-homer game in a win against Arundel during her sophomore year. Another question that had her stumped was what she would be doing if not playing softball. She started playing catch with her father every night in the backyard when she was little, started T-ball when she was 5 and then played travel softball when she was 8. "Sometimes I'll get sick of it and just don't feel like doing it," Slowinski said.

Former St. Frances standout Briana Hutchen is leaving the Rutgers women's basketball team. Hutchen, The Baltimore Sun's 2010 girls basketball player of the year, told Scarlet Knights coach C. Vivian Stringer that she planned to transfer. In her freshman season at Rutgers, Hutchen played in 28 games, averaging 1.2 points and 1.5 rebounds.

For the fourth consecutive year, Duke lost in the month of February. And the last three seasons have entailed setbacks to Notre Dame, including last Saturday's 7-3 decision in South Bend, Ind. But Blue Devils coach John Danowski said he's not worried that the losses are part of a larger trend nor does he plan on adjusting the team's schedule to soften it up. “We play a great schedule, and teams win or lose,” he said Tuesday. “It's Feb. 21, and you can certainly dodge these teams if you want and try to change the schedule.

Long before Briana Hutchen became one of Baltimore's best high school basketball players, the St. Frances forward dreamed of someday playing for a national-title contender. "It's funny because I was talking to my godmother about schools in ninth or 10th grade," Hutchen said Thursday. "She just threw some names of schools out there that I'd be interested in. She said Rutgers, and I said, 'No way! I can't go to Rutgers. That's Vivian Stringer's team.' ... Not in my wildest dreams" did she think she'd end up there.

Joe Boylan, assistant athletic director at Rutgers University, is expected to be named athletic director at Loyola College this morning, a source close to the Loyola athletic department said.FTC The move would bring Boylan home to Baltimore for the first time since 1968, when he was the basketball coach at Lansdowne High.Loyola has scheduled a news conference for this morning to announce its new athletic director.Boylan, who grew up in the Sudbrook section of Baltimore County and played basketball at Milford Mill High, drove from the Rutgers campus yesterday afternoon and was in Baltimore last night, a friend said.

Navy wasn't as angry after Saturday's 21-20 loss to Rutgers as it was after its one-point overtime defeat at home against heated rival Air Force and was not as embarrassed as after a 28-point demolition by Southern Mississippi last week in Annapolis. Nor did the Midshipmen seem to be suffering from the same kind of letdown they had after last month's three-point defeat at then-No. 10 South Carolina. Mostly, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and his players appeared numb after extending the school's longest losing streak in nine years to four games.

Men's college lacrosse Notre Dame throttles Rutgers, 8-3, in Big East opener Senior attackman Colin Igoe had two goals and an assist as No. 3 Notre Dame (6-0) opened Big East play Sunday with an 8-3 win over host Rutgers (5-3, 0-1). Senior midfielder David Earl added two goals for the Fighting Irish, and junior attackman Sean Rogers had a goal and a career-high three assists. The Scarlet Knights, who entered the game averaging 10.14 goals, scored just one goal in the final 45:02 and none in the last 23:50.

Loyola College's sixth-ranked lacrosse team was genuinely worried about its home game with No. 15 Rutgers yesterday."This is a big game for us," Greyhounds assistant coach Bill Dirrgl said nervously before the faceoff.He could have relaxed.Steadily improving Loyola won easily, 17-6, dominating every phase of the game. It was the 100th win for coach Dave Cottle in 12 years at Evergreen.Rutgers (1-3) never has beaten Loyola (4-0) in five tries.Mark O'Brien led Loyola scorers with four goals and Derek Radebaugh had three.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Ryan Cherry and Brian Belford each scored two goals as UMBC defeated Rutgers, 9-6, yesterday.With the game tied 5-5 at the half, the Retrievers scored four goals in the third to make it 9-5. Matt Shearer, Chad Henry, Tome Reilly and Joe Wojciechowski each scored for UMBC (1-1) in the third.Ryan O'Shea and Matt Kopley led Rutgers (0-1) with two goals apiece.Chris Brown had 14 saves for UMBC.

[ Editor's note: This story initially included Joshua Davis as one of six Dunbar football players signing national letters of intent to play football on scholarship. Davis, who will play at Morgan State , is not receiving an athletic scholarship. He is receiving need-base financial aid, which allows Morgan to not use one of its football scholarships on him, Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith said.]   Franklin wide receiver Ian Thomas had a few reservations about his intention to sign with Rutgers after Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano announced late last week that he was leaving to take over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Franklin wide receiver Ian Thomas had a few reservations about his intention to sign with Rutgers after the Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano announced his departure late last week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a lot of thought, however, Thomas decided Rutgers was still the place for him. “I can't stand here and tell anyone that I will be playing in the NFL,” Thomas said during his Wednesday morning signing ceremony, “but I can guarantee I will have a degree from Rutgers in the next four years.” In the Franklin gym before a crowd of family, teammates and friends, Thomas signed his national letter of intent to accept a full football scholarship from the New Jersey university on the opening day of the football signing period.

Sophomore forward Jade Geif had 21 points and 12rebounds, and junior guard Chey Arvin had seven assists, to lead the Navy women's basketball team past visiting Air Force, 71-59, on Monday. Navy (2-3) led wire to wire, surging in front by as much as as 20 points and leading by 15 at halftime. Air Force (3-4) guard Alicia Leipprandt scored a game-high 26 points, and Dymond James added 13. Navy built its lead, in part, at the free-throw line, where the Mids made 10 of 12 attempts in the first half.

Navy wasn't as angry after Saturday's 21-20 loss to Rutgers as it was after its one-point overtime defeat at home against heated rival Air Force and was not as embarrassed as after a 28-point demolition by Southern Mississippi last week in Annapolis. Nor did the Midshipmen seem to be suffering from the same kind of letdown they had after last month's three-point defeat at then-No. 10 South Carolina. Mostly, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and his players appeared numb after extending the school's longest losing streak in nine years to four games.

Just as motorists taking a wrong turn off the New Jersey Turnpike can get lost when they come here, the Navy football team has had its own share of misadventures when playing at Rutgers. The last time the Midshipmen beat the Scarlet Knights on their home field was 1999, and there have been four subsequents defeats — by six, 21, 10 and 17 points. So how does a 2-3 team in the midst of its first three-game losing streak in nine years turn things around Saturday against a 4-1 Rutgers team on a three-game winning streak — at a place where historically the Midshipmen have had so little success?

In the lexicon of Navy football, they are called "loafs" — as in loafing. On defense, they come when linemen don't converge on a quarterback whose pocket has broken down; or when linebackers stop their pursuit of a running back about to break through for a big gain; or when a cornerback or safety thinks the other is going to bring down a receiver who just made a catch in the middle of the field. Making tackles on those types of plays has typically been at the root of Navy's success defensively in recent years.

Mount Hebron's Bryan Warner has made an early commitment to Rutgers to play lacrosse on a scholarship next year. The attackman scored 37 goals and had 35 assists for the Vikings this spring, and as a sophomore he scored 25 goals and assisted on 24."I wanted a big-school football atmosphere. And Rutgers also has Big East basketball," said Warner, who expressed relief that his college hunt finally has ended."It's a big decision, and I could feel the stress coming off my shoulders as I signed," he said.

As expected, Navy fullback Alexander Teich returned to the team Monday after being suspended for last week's game against Southern Mississippi.    Teich, a senior co-captain who had led the Midshipmen in rushing through the first four games, had been suspended by Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo for "leadership issues" in the aftermath of the team's 35-34 overtime loss to Air Force Oct. 1. Without Teich, the Midshipmen were blown out by the Golden...

Basketball Bias, Holliday, Chenier to be inducted into Hall The late Maryland star Len Bias and longtime Terrapins radio voice Johnny Holliday will be inducted into the Washington Metropolitan Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 9, it was announced on Tuesday. Former Baltimore-Washington Bullets star Phil Chenier , former Bullets player and GM Bob Ferry and Montrose Christian coach Stu Vetter will also be among those inducted. The ceremony starts at 6p.m.