Sophomore

Many teams would be hard-pressed to win at a consistent rate without their conference's Specialist of the Year and one of the top midfielders in the country. But that's exactly what Denver is doing. Despite the right knee injury that has sidelined senior Chase Carraro, the Pioneers have picked up three straight victories and risen to No. 8 in The Sun's rankings. Coach Bill Tierney said the posterior cruciate ligament in Carraro's right knee is improving to the point where he has returned to running on the practice field.

Coming out of a quiet stretch - which included being suspended for a game for violating team policy - Wells Stanwick bounced back in resounding fashion Tuesday night. The Johns Hopkins sophomore attackman set career highs in goals (five) and assists (four), powering the No. 10 Blue Jays' men's lacrosse team to a 19-9 thumping of visiting Mount St. Mary's at Homewood Field. Stanwick's performance - he needed just five shots to match his goal output from his first three games this season - was especially timely as Johns Hopkins (4-1)

Lacrosse Cyr's hat trick helps No. 11 PSU women past No. 8 UVa.   Mackenzie Cyr (Winters Mill) had her third three-goal game of the season to lead No. 11 Penn State to a 15-14 victory at No. 8 Virginia. After trailing 8-5 at halftime, the Nittany Lions (3-1) scored six straight. The Cavaliers went on a 4-0 run, but Penn State responded with four goals to take a 15-12 lead. Virginia tallied twice to make it a one-goal game but committed a foul on the ensuing draw, allowing the Nittany Lions to run out the clock.

Princeton's Forest Sonnenfeldt will miss the season after an ankle injury that required surgery, a team spokesman said. The attackman had 17 goals and six assists as a junior in 2012. In addition, junior attackman Will Himler and junior defenseman Rob Posniewski did not play against Hofstra on Saturday. Both were hurt but are not expected to miss significant time. Senior attackman Luke Armour and sophomore attackman Brendan DeTommaso also did not play against Hofstra. They are not injured, the spokesman said.

Loyola sophomore lacrosse player Alex Roesner has committed to the admissions process at Penn, continuing a growing trend of commitments by underclassmen. The 5-foot-11, 165-pound attackman played varsity as a freshman for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association runner-up. He is a member of Looney's Lacrosse Club and a two-time Most Valuable Player of the championship game in the Dick's Tournament of Champions. Roesner strongly also considered Michigan, Ohio State, Princeton, Villanova and Fairfield.

Mark Pannenton hasn't wasted any time making an impression with the Stevenson men's lacrosse team. The sophomore attackman, who transferred from SUNY-Cortland, scored three goals - including the game-winner with 1:49 left in overtime - to propel the No. 2 Mustangs to a 12-11 decision over No. 8 Rochester Institute of Technology before an announced 418 at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills on Wednesday night. Pannenton recorded five goals and one assist in the team's season-opening 17-11 victory over Nazareth on Feb. 16. In Wednesday night's extra session, he collected a pass from junior long-stick midfielder Warren Pumphrey, settled his feet and bounced a low shot from the left wing inside the right side of the net. "Warren obviously had a great ground ball up the midfield, and he just brought the ball up, drew one slide and put it right in my stick," Pannenton said.

Going into Wednesday night's Class 3A North regional basketball semifinal, the Aberdeen girls figured they could run against Digital Harbor, but they still had to counter the Rams' inside game. When two of Digital's top three inside threats got into foul trouble in the second quarter and All-Metro forward A'Lexus Harrison had to sit with three fouls, No. 2 Aberdeen ran away with a 74-40 victory. "One of our main goals is to get their good people out of the game, then we can take over," Eagles senior guard Jimmia McCluskey said.

C.J. Keyser, a 6-foot-3 sophomore small forward for the John Carroll boys basketball team, has transferred to Patterson Mill, but his playing status for the upcoming Class 2A state playoffs is still unclear.  Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association executive director Ned Sparks said Keyser's eligibility would be determined on whether he qualifies under Harford County Public Schools rules. Harford County supervisor of athletics Ken Zorbach could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Richie Easterly , a sophomore attackman from Westhill High in Onandaga, N.Y., has orally committed to play men's lacrosse at Loyola. The 5-foot-11, 177-pound Easterly enters his third year of varsity lacrosse, starting on extra-man opportunities his eighth-grade year (8 goals, 5 assists) and leading the team in assists his freshman year (15G, 24A). Easterly is also a two-year starter on the varsity football team, earning first-team all-league honors his sophomore year. Easterly also considered Albany, Bucknell, Colgate and Fairfield.

The graduation of attackmen Sean Maguire and Matt Lamon has forced Towson to play a version of musical chairs with its starters on offense. Senior Matt Hughes has moved from attack to midfield and sophomore Cory Dobyns, a transfer from Drexel who leads the team in both goals and points (six each), has become a permanent fixture on attack. Another move has junior Thomas DeNapoli and sophomore Justin Mabus shifting from midfield to attack. The duo has started at attack in each of the Tigers' first two contests thus far, and their familiarity with the position is not entirely new, according to coach Shawn Nadelen.