Shutouts

Westminster's Julie Backof had a busy night in goal in last week's soccer game against Thomas Johnson.After 80 minutes of regulation, two overtime periods and 14 saves by Backof, the Owls walked away with a 1-0 win.First-year coach Terry Molloy, who has coached at the college and high school level, called it one of the strongest efforts he's seen in goal."

North Carolina Central @Towson Saturday, 6 p.m. Radio: 1300 AM Towson scored a pair of fourth-quarter special teams touchdowns to beat Delaware State, 21-7, at rain-soaked Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon. With Towson trailing 7-6 in the fourth quarter, Jordan Mynatt blocked a punt and Fred Overstreet recovered the ball in the end zone to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish. Derrick Joseph later ran back a punt 81 yards for a touchdown to give Towson a 21-7 lead.

Seldom do two teams that figure to play each other in a state championship battle each other during the regular season.But that was the case Monday at Wilde Lake, where the red-hot Wildecats blanked Fallston of Harford County, 2-0, in a probable state Class 1A boys soccer championship preview. Both teams rate among the Top 10 in The Sun'spoll.Wilde Lake's top scorer, Hamisi Amani-Dove, registered both goalsin the first half off assists from Matt Nesbitt and Mike Aballo. They were Amani-Dove's seventh and eighth goals this year, and Nesbitt'sassist was his sixth.

After throwing his first career shutout Wednesday, Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez was being interviewed by MASN's cameras when his teammate, Adam Jones, smashed a pie in the starter's face. As it was happening, Gonzalez uttered an expletive that was broadcast. “I knew [Jones] was coming, but I didn't know when, that's why he got me off guard,” Gonzalez said. “And I honestly didn't even realize it until someone told me what I said.” Gonzalez said he saw references to his slip up on Twitter and Facebook and he received texts from friends and family.

The Orioles tied their own American League record yesterday when Mike Mussina pitched the team's fifth straight shutout."They can't beat you if they don't score," Orioles manager Phil Regan said.The only thing the shutouts changed were the record books, tying the 1995 Orioles with the AL record set Sept. 2-6, 1974, by Ross Grimsley, Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Cuellar again. All five of the 1974 shutouts were complete games.This week, four of the five shutouts -- Mussina (twice)

The most defiant defense in the NFL can't say the P-word, but it can use the S-word. And the Ravens speak the language of shutouts eloquently. Ravaging a once-proud Dallas Cowboys' offense, 27-0, before 69,416 at PSINet Stadium, the Ravens' defense yesterday climbed another rung on a ladder only a few have dared to scale. Their fourth shutout of the regular season is the second-most in the NFL's Super Bowl era, one behind the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers. Their eighth win of the season - tying the franchise high - leaves them positioned well for the stretch run to the postseason.

Orioles entered this six-game road trip to National League parks on their hottest offensive tear of the season. Consider it cooled. Considerably. The Orioles lost 5-0 to the New York Mets on Tuesday, the second consecutive night in which they have been shut out at Citi Field. “A lot of it has got to do with pitchers on the top of their game will make you look like you're not on top of yours,” said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. After Monday's one-hit gem twirled by knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, Mets' lefty Johan Santana followed with six scoreless innings Tuesday and New York's bullpen made it hold up before an announced 32,587.

Nicole Froman plays every soccer game with the same outcome in mind."Shutouts -- that's what I like," said Loch Raven's senior sweeper. "If I don't score a goal, if it's 1-0, I did my job. My shutouts are my goals."Froman has helped record more career shutouts than many good strikers have goals.Of the 49 high school games she has played, 30 have been shutout victories. The Raiders are 41-7-1 with her in the lineup and have allowed only 30 goals.While Froman spreads the credit around for those stats to the entire defense, much of the Raiders' strength is based on her performance in the back.

There is a certain pride the top-ranked River Hill defense has. The Hawks don't just want to beat their opponents, they want to shut them out. And they did just that last night with a 28-0 victory over visiting Elkton of Cecil County in a Class 2A state semifinal in Clarksville. "It's not something we expected to do early in the year, but we got off to a good start with four shutouts in a row," River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen said. "The kids started taking pride in it and wanted to shut everybody out. It's been an awesome year.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Two home runs by leadoff hitter Brady Anderson and a career-high 26th by left fielder B. J. Surhoff last night ignited the Orioles to a 10-0 throttling of the Minnesota Twins. Anyone looking closely enough could find encouraging images for the present and future.Given three first-inning runs, Orioles starting pitcher Jason Johnson (6-7) never allowed the tying run to reach the plate in a powerful albeit abbreviated performance. Right fielder Albert Belle extended his recent breakout with another multi-hit game.

From a logistical standpoint, Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez hasn't had a particularly stable season. He has dealt with one stint on the disabled list, pitched out of the bullpen once and twice was demoted to the minor leagues as part of the club's continual roster tweaks. If Gonzalez keeps pitching like he did Wednesday in a 6-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, though, he'll ultimately end up with just one destination next month: The postseason. That's his ultimate goal after an elevator of a season.

Et cetera No. 2 Maryland men lose, 1-0, to No. 14 Louisville in soccer The No. 2 Maryland men's soccer team dropped its season opener Friday night, falling to No. 14 Louisville, 1-0, at the grand opening of the Cardinals' new home venue, Lynn Stadium. After a back-and-forth first half, Louisville (1-0) scored the lone goal of the match on a header by Andrew Brody in the 54th minute, who took a nice serve from Ricardo Velazco from the near sideline and found the upper right corner.

The Orioles' sweep by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field last weekend raised all kinds of red flags. But four days back home against the Tampa Bay Rays allowed the Orioles to get back to one of the things that has carried them to the top of the American League East -- a lights-out bullpen. Relief pitchers Brad Brach , Andrew Miller, and Zach Britton combined for three scoreless innings in Thursday's 5-4 win at Camden Yards, and the bullpen completed a four-game series against the Rays without allowing an earned run in 14 1/3 innings.

Chris Tillman may be riding the momentum of a shutout as he heads into Wednesday night's start, but the matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates presents a challenge that the Orioles right-hander hasn't quite solved for the majority of his six-year career: interleague play. In seven career starts against National League opponents, Tillman is 0-1 with a 4.82 ERA. Earlier this season, the Pirates hounded Tillman, fouling off 16 pitches and drawing three walks as he labored through a 49-pitch first inning.

I can't say I blame Towson University coach Shawn Nadelen for looking so depressed after the Tigers lost, 8-1, to Penn State on Saturday night. I've been covering college lacrosse since 1987, and that was one of the worst, if not the worst, performance I have ever seen from a team, regardless of division. The Tigers couldn't pitch and catch. They got outhustled and allowed the Nittany Lions to push them around the field. Towson's performance was on the level of a 13- or 14-year-old team in the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association's B bracket.

Playing against a division rival, attempting to climb back to .500 and facing what likely will be an emotionally charged upcoming series in Boston, the Orioles certainly needed a complete effort like their 3-0 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon. They also needed to get back into the clubhouse and thaw out - that's what happens when the temperature at first pitch is 39 degrees and you play for nearly three hours. “I think it is more mental than anything else.

How the leagues fared after the first phase of interleague play:Record .. .. .. .. ..AL, 48-36Total runs .. .. .. .AL, 435-363Avg. runs .. .. .. ..AL, 5.2-4.3Homers .. .. .. .. ..AL, 88-78Shutouts .. .. .. ...NL, 4-2Complete .. .. .. ...NL, 7-6gamesPub Date: 6/20/97

Over the first two weeks of the season, left-hander Zach Britton has become a valuable weapon for the Orioles out of the bullpen. Britton provided more evidence of that during the Orioles' 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon, tossing three shutout innings to serve as the bridge between starter Miguel Gonzalez and closer Tommy Hunter . Britton, a former starter who made the full-time move to the bullpen this spring,...

The Blast put on another clinic Saturday night against the Pennsylvania Roar, showcasing its depth and talent against the first-year franchise. One day after dismantling the Roar, 21-2,, the Blast surged to a 29-0 victory in the second game of the home-and-home series before an announced 5,638 at Baltimore Arena. It was the Blast's largest margin of victory since beating Massachusetts, 37-5, on Feb. 14, 2009. “Any time you can get a shutout, it's a tremendous team effort,” Blast coach Danny Kelly said.