Teams

In the wake of WWE's Over the Limit pay-per-view, a new Intercontinental champion has been crowned, four other champions continue to hold onto their titles and John Laurinaitis remains employed. Sunday night's show delivered an evening of quality entertainment and good in-ring performances. On a non-major PPV event, WWE delivered a product that surpassed the expectations of many. Here's a match-by-match look at the show: Battle Royale This last-minute addition to the card was a means of crowning a No. 1 contender for one of the midcard titles.

The Division I, II and III programs competing in championship weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., include a large number of players hailing from the Baltimore metropolitan area. Here is a team-by-team breakdown of players who hail from the area or who graduated from a local high school participating in this weekend's NCAA tournaments. Division I No. 1 seed Loyola: Freshman midfielder Jeff Chase (Monrovia/Boys' Latin), senior midfielder J.P. Dalton (Queenstown/St.

The Columbia Flier and Howard County Times' all-county teams are chosen by the sports staff in consultation with the coaches. Next week, look for the all-county teams for boys and girls lacrosse, baseball and softball.

With nine national championships in 13 attempts, Salisbury's run of postseason success is eclipsed only by Hobart's record of 13 NCAA titles in 14 tournament final appearances. Sunday's title contest against SUNY-Cortland will be the third consecutive year in which the Sea Gulls have reached the NCAA championship game, but just getting there is not enough for a few players. “We all know what it takes,” senior midfielder Sam Bradman said. “We know it's not anything if we just make it there.

I am so upset over the news that the University of Maryland may cut so many teams to address the athletic department's deficit ("Eight teams targeted to be cut," Nov. 15). With all state money the University of Maryland receives, this is not understandable! Where will out future Olympians train and who will be able to partake? Bettye A. Frantz, Gwynn Oak

Experienced volleyball players are needed for women's teams and co-ed teams that play in Prince George's County's fall volleyball leagues. Female setters experienced in 5-1 and 6-2 play are needed for a team that finished in first place for the winter/spring season. Full-time and substitute middle hitters are also needed. Male power hitters/blockers are needed for a co-ed team that plays on Sundays. League play begins the end of September. Contact Diane at 301-776-3805.

We're less than a week into the 2011 MLB season, but recent history shows that the undefeated Orioles are in pretty good shape to return to the playoffs at season's end. Meanwhile, the winless Red Sox and Rays are already on the ropes. According to data provided to USA Today by the Elias Sports Bureau, 20 teams have started a season 4-0 since 1995, which was the beginning of the wild-card era. Twelve of those teams -- that's 60 percent -- have made the playoffs. Meanwhile, 25 teams got off to a 0-4 start in that span, and only two -- eight percent -- made it to the postseason: the 1995 Reds and 1999 Diamondbacks.

Tae Strain of Demi and Marc Dixon of Bistro Blanc are teaming up to create a one-night only collaborative  dinner. The menu for the seven-course Spring Tasting Dinner will be served at Bistro Blanc on Monday night. Strain says there will be surprises along the way. Tempted? Seating for the $125 dinner is very limited, and reservations need to be made in advance. Call Dixon at Bistro Blanc to make them. (1st course) Strawberry Carpaccio, "Burrata", Balsamic Pearls, Crispy Basil (2nd course)

A week after the bracket for the NCAA tournament was revealed, the first-round outcomes appeared to validate the selection committee's seeding decisions. Seven of the eight seeded teams emerged victorious this past weekend, and Maryland's 13-6 rout of No. 8 seed North Carolina isn't considered an upset in many corners. But four of the favorites found themselves trailing in the first quarter or at halftime. No. 6 Denver fell into a 7-5 hole against Villanova at intermission; Bucknell led No. 7 seed Virginia 4-1 by the end of the first quarter; and Hartford and Hofstra took leads of 3-1 and 2-0 against No. 2 seed Cornell and No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins, respectively.

One criteria that the selection committee looks at for the NCAA tournament is strength of schedule, which can either enhance or devalue a team's bid for an at-large spot in the tournament. Bucknell, which captured the Patriot League's bid for a berth in the tournament, has tried to strengthen its schedule, but according to coach Frank Fedorjaka, programs in the Top 10 aren't being too cooperative. “We've got 12 of the top 31 teams ranked in the country on our schedule this year, but none of them are in the Top 10. Frankly, nobody will accept an invitation,” Fedorjaka said Wednesday in a conference call.

I am a Red Sox fan (I now live in New England), by way of having been a Braves fan (they were the team of the deep South in the '70s) , by way of having been a Brooklyn Dodgers fan as a very young child (their enemy was the Yankees, and they hired Jackie Robinson). I am a devoted Sox fan, and watch almost every Red Sox game on TV, unless I am at Fenway. It always seems weird to me to see a ballpark half full when I am used to Fenway full for every game. OK, there were lean times for theO'sin the past, but how can your city not come out to support the team this year?

These two teams will meet for the 18th time, but for the first time since 2010. Loyola owns a 12-5 lead in the series, but Notre Dame has won the last four meetings. These teams faced each other in the NCAA tournament just once with the Greyhounds enjoying a 21-5 thumping in the first round on May 11, 1997. The No. 4 seed Fighting Irish (13-2) defeated Yale, 13-7, in the first round and No. 5 seed Virginia, 12-10, in the quarterfinals. No. 1 seed Loyola (16-1) beat Canisius, 17-5, in the first round and Denver, 10-9, in the quarterfinals.

The No. 2 Liberty girls repeated as the Class 2A state champions on Saturday, but it wasn't an easy task. The Lions gathered points in an array of events to rally late and win the title at Morgan State. Michelle Keller led the final push that helped Liberty finish with 73.5 points and beat out Largo (62). Last year, Liberty edged out North Hagerstown by 3 1/2 points. This year, Keller finished second in both the high jump and shot put for 16 crucial points to push Liberty ahead.

•There were no youth leagues in their native Warrenton, Va., when David and Matt Miller wanted to begin playing lacrosse. And a journey that began in the backyard with their mother teaching them how to play while using the wooden women's sticks from her college days continues this weekend, with both brothers playing in the Division I men's semifinals. David Miller is a senior at Maryland and a starting short-stick defensive midfielder. Matt Miller , a junior, is starting defenseman for Notre Dame, the top-ranked defense in the nation.

Maryland has a deal with Maroon PR to work with the school's athletic department on a number of initiatives, including branding and coaches' media training, according to school officials. Maroon is a full-service public relations and marketing company based in Columbia. Its clients include Ripken Baseball, the Sports Legends Museum and Sagamore Racing. It has become increasingly common for athletic departments to use consultants to aid in marketing and other initiatives. Maroon will help with media placement, branding and coaches' media training.

Mike Sawyer would take the high road and never lower himself to criticize an individual achievement, but I think the Loyola junior attackman was snubbed in the voting for the Division I All-American first team. Colgate junior Peter Baum and Virginia senior Steele Stanwick were locks for the first team. It's the third spot occupied by Massachusetts junior Will Manny that is disputable. Statistically, Manny is the better all-around player, ranking third in the nation in points per game (4.8)

Many of the Baltimore area's top high school girls lacrosse players were selected for the South District teams to compete Memorial Day weekend at the U.S. Women's Lacrosse Association National Schoolgirl Tournament near Philadelphia.This year's tournament, running May 28 and 29 at Germantown Academy, includes more teams than ever.The South teams, to include players from Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Virginia, will compete against teams from Chesapeake, which includes Anne Arundel County and part of Howard County, as well as teams from New England, Long Island, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Ohio, California and Colorado.

As a freshman at Kenwood, Trevis Buckhanon Jr. was targeted regularly by opponents looking to embarrass the gangly big man. The son of a former Douglass star and Baltimore City hoops champion, the younger Buckhanon had been raised to play football, and only recently gave up the gridiron to focus on basketball - which he started playing in seventh grade. So despite Buckhanon's 6-foot-4 stature, freshman year on Kenwood's JV squad was a challenge. “They came at me,” Buckhanon said.

Loyola will enjoy its first berth in the Final Four since 1998, but an unenviable task awaits the top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1) when they meet No. 4 seed Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The offense will try to become only the third opponent this season to decipher the Fighting Irish's bewildering defense, a unit so fundamentally sound that it has allowed only one team to reach double digits in goals this spring.