Scored

There were sure to be all kinds of challenges during this long season, so why not a game that tested Maryland's fortitude -- and its patience -- with its postseason survival at stake against an unheralded team maddeningly well schooled in the Princeton offense? After another slow start, second-seeded Maryland -- and particularly Dez Wells -- had to dig deep to come back and defeat Denver, 62-52, on Thursday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

Based on Mount St. Mary's 1-7 nonconference record, it might seem the Mountaineers aren't quite ready to step into Northeast Conference play this weekend. But that's not how the Mountaineers see it. After all, the past two years they've started 1-7 and made it to the NEC championship game. When they take on Wagner in the conference opener Friday at 4 p.m. in Emmitsburg, the Mountaineers will have gained plenty of insight from playing teams such as Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech and UMBC.

Junior attackman Sam Jones chuckled when asked what was plaguing Navy's offense. Unfortunately, the unit's woes are no laughing matter. The Midshipmen have scored seven or fewer goals in three of their last four games, and each of those contests has ended in a loss. In fact, the team is 0-5 when managing fewer than 10 goals in a game this season. “There's a lot of things,” Jones said, referring to the initial question. “At the end of the day, we don't make the smart plays that we need to. It's on us. We don't do what we need to do. We turn the ball over too much or we don't get the ball where it needs to be, we haven't been shooting well.

Jay Carlson may have opened some eyes with his five-goal explosion in top-ranked Maryland's 10-7 victory over Villanova last Saturday. But not those of coach John Tillman. The sophomore attackman, a Cockeysville native and St. Paul's graduate who has replaced senior Billy Gribbin in the starting lineup in the team's last two contests, has scored seven goals in those games. Carlson is tied with senior attackman Kevin Cooper for the team lead in goals with 12 and tied with redshirt senior midfielder Jake Bernhardt for fifth in points with 13. “Jay is a guy that - since the day he got here - has a knack for scoring goals,” Tillman said Tuesday morning during his weekly conference call.

Marcus Holman (Gilman) scored his 100th career goal and Joey Sankey had career highs for goals and points in a game as No. 10 North Carolina rolled to a 13-5 win over visiting Dartmouth (2-3) on Monday afternoon. Holman had four goals and an assist for the Tar Heels (4-3), while Sankey had four goals and three assists. Freshman attackman Patrick Kelly (Calvert Hall) scored his first career goal for North Carolina. Next up for the Tar Heels is a matchup at top-ranked Maryland at noon Saturday.

The two best players were on the opposite ends of the field Tuesday night, and they both played for Towson. Tigers junior attackman Thomas DeNapoli finished with seven goals and three assists, and senior goalie Andrew Wascavage made 15 saves as Towson defeated UMBC, 12-9, before an announced 545 at UMBC Stadium. DeNapoli, from East Rockaway, N.Y, was unstoppable and at times looked like NBA star LeBron James. He called for the ball. He waved his teammates out of the way. When he was double-teamed, he dished off and handed out assists.

Bowie State ran into the top-scoring men's basketball team in the country as host West Liberty of West Virginia won, 114-82, in the first round of the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Division II tournament on Saturday night. Bryon Westmorland (Mervo) scored a team-high 18 points and Najee White added 13 points for the Bulldogs (16-14). The Hilltoppers (31-1), who average about 106 points a game, shot 66.7percent from the field and took a 66-41 lead at halftime. St. Mary's 84, Morrisville State 66: Donn Hill (Bel Air)

For a team that has struggled with possession this season, the Loyola women's lacrosse team certainly set the right tone early in Saturday's game against James Madison. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, they could not sustain it beyond the first half. The No. 12 Greyhounds scored the first four goals and shut out James Madison before halftime, but the Dukes seized the momentum early in the second half and dominated possession in overtime for a 9-8 victory at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex.

The roller coaster ride for the St. Mary's men's lacrosse team continued its descent. After opening the season with a 2-1 start that included a 13-12 upset of then-No. 11 Roanoke, the Seahawks dropped their third consecutive game, falling to No. 12 Denison, 11-6, at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field on Wednesday afternoon. St. Mary's (2-4) found itself in a 4-0 deficit after the first 4:11 of the game and trailed 5-0 with less than six minutes to go in the first quarter. "I'm proud of how we came back and made a game of it, but we've just got to come out stronger," said senior attackman Patrick Mull (Fallston)

Off to a 5-0 start, Maryland is the unanimous top-ranked team in Division I, leads the nation in offense with an average of 16 goals, and trails only Hofstra as the stingiest defense in the country after allowing just 6.8 goals per game . But this season's success - which includes a 12-10 defeat of reigning national champion Loyola, which knocked off the Terps in last year's NCAA tournament final - could worm its way into the players' egos,...