Syracuse

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - As much as NCAA men's Division I lacrosse reached a new level of parity this season with Notre Dame and Towson reaching the final four, we all knew it would come down to No. 1 seed Syracuse against No. 2 Princeton in the championship game tomorrow at Rutgers. That's the way it should be. Princeton (13-1) has the best coach in Bill Tierney and Syracuse (13-2) has the best athletes. Princeton likes the slow-down offense while the Orangemen prefer to run. Both teams have great defenses, and together they have won eight of the past nine championships.

C.J. Fair is all too familiar with the history of former high school players from Baltimore who left Syracuse early for the NBA. This week, the 6-8 junior forward follows Carmelo Anthony, who as a freshman a decade ago led the Orange to its only national college basketball championship before embarking on his professional career. But Fair, who helped Syracuse reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003 with wins over Indiana and Marquette last week at the Verizon Center in Washington, is even more familiar with another former Baltimore star who also left after being one of the top freshmen in the Big East.

"Everybody is slowly getting better and better," Downey McCarty was saying yesterday. "The tournament ought to be great."McCarty, who was an All-America attackman at Johns Hopkins in the '60s, was only saying what every other close follower of lacrosse is thinking and anticipating.The NCAA Division I men's tournament, with the Final Four to be played again at College Park on May 27 and 29, should be a wide-open, crowd-pleasing show.Hey, it wasn't bad last year when Princeton beat Virginia, 9-8, in overtime in the championship game before 24,730 at Byrd Stadium.

The first assignment for Sean Young, a transfer from Towson in his first game with Syracuse, wasn't easy. He needed to shut down the leading scorer for one of the nation's top offenses and the winningest program in the history of lacrosse. But that's exactly what he did in the No. 10 Orange's 13-8 win over No. 9 Johns Hopkins, limiting the Blue Jays' Brandon Benn to one goal and seemingly providing a long-term answer to who would replace the injured Brandon Mullins in the Syracuse (4-1)

WASHINGTON - A year ago, C.J. Fair and top-seeded Syracuse left Boston's TD Garden unfulfilled after losing to No. 2 seed Ohio State in the NCAA tournament's East Regional final. Fair had done little to help, taking just two shots and scoring eight points in a seven-point loss to the Buckeyes. Fair and his Syracuse teammates had a much different feeling leaving Verizon Center on Saturday night. Not only did the fourth-seeded Orange advance to its first Final Four in a decade with a 55-39 win over third-seeded Marquette, but the former City standout played a big part in the victory.

Reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Katie Schwarzmann (Century) scored a career-high seven goals, and the No. 4 Maryland women's lacrosse team knocked off No. 1 Syracuse, 19-11, on Sunday at the Carrier Dome. Taylor Cummings (McDonogh) added five goals and a game-high six draw controls for the Terps (2-0), and Alex Aust finished with her second four-goal showing of the year. Maryland is averaging 19.5 goals per game through its first two games. The Orange (1-1) had won its previous eight home openers.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Matt Riter scored five goals last night to lead No. 3 Syracuse (4-2) over Hobart (2-2), 22-8.John Barr, Casey Donegan, Mark Fietta, Roy Golsey, Steve Bettinger, Paul Sullivan and Dom Finn each added two goals for the Orangemen.Hobart ..1 1 4 2 -- 8Syracuse 5 7 4 6 -- 22

Men's college lacrosse No. 16 Villanova shocks No. 7 Syracuse, 11-10   No. 16 Villanova made history with an 11-10 win over host Syracuse on Sunday, handing the Orange (4-3, 2-1) its first-ever Big East Conference loss since the league was formed for men's lacrosse in 2010. Villanova (5-3, 1-0 Big East) also broke a four-game winless streak against Syracuse. The game featured seven lead changes and six ties as the Wildcats came back from a two-goal halftime deficit.

The 1990 Syracuse lacrosse team, which routed Loyola in the NCAA final and is considered by many to be the best ever, will have to relinquish its national title and championship trophy, according to NCAA committee minutes.The NCAA Committee on Infractions ruled the university committed a secondary violation when Nancy Simmons, wife of lacrosse coach Roy Simmons Jr., co-signed for a car loan for star midfielder Paul Gait and his wife, Kathleen, during the 1990 season.Simmons and school officials argued that Nancy Simmons was independent from her husband, and should not be considered a representative of the school.

Former Dunbar basketball standout Michael Lloyd has withdrawn from Syracuse University amid an NCAA investigation into credits he obtained while at a junior college.Thursday, Lloyd informed Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim he would not return to Syracuse for his senior season, but was instead leaving "to pursue opportunities in professional basketball."Lloyd, a 1992 high school All-American and Baltimore Sun Player of the Year, cannot play in the NBA this season because he missed the deadline to declare himself eligible for the June draft, an NBA spokeswoman said.