Terrapins

RALEIGH, N.C. -When the final buzzer sounded and top seed Maryland had finally put away fourth seed Vanderbilt, 78-74, in a heart-stopping NCAA Raleigh Regional semifinal Saturday afternoon, senior Marissa Coleman dropped to the RBC Center floor and squatted with her head down for a couple of seconds. The normally exuberant senior forward needed to catch her breath and rest for a moment. "I was exhausted," she said. And with good reason: Coleman played all 40 minutes, scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and made countless clutch plays in a game in which Maryland trailed by 18 points and didn't take its first lead until 2:17 remained.

March Madness has struck the Orioles. Shortstop Miguel Tejada arrived at camp yesterday wearing a Maryland Terrapins T-shirt, and the clubhouse was full of players filling out tournament brackets. If anyone cares, my Final Four is Wisconsin, Ohio State, UCLA and North Carolina ... with the Badgers going all the way. I would have picked UCLA, but that's against my religion.

Using a barrage of three-pointers, the fifth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team wrapped up the nonconference portion of its schedule yesterday by defeating UMBC, 98-56, in the final of the Terrapin Classic at Comcast Center. The Terps shot 17-for-28 from three-point range, breaking the team record and the mark for most three-pointers in a game by an Atlantic Coast Conference team. Maryland@Wake Forest Thursday, 7 p.m.

COLLEGE PARK -- What do Derrick Mercer, Tyrese Rice and Eric Maynor have in common? Maryland fans probably know all too well that each is a speedy guard who scored 18 or more points as his team - American, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth, respectively - beat the Terrapins this season. Delaware@Maryland Tonight, 6, Comcast SportsNet, 1300 AM

Yesterday afternoon's lacrosse game between No. 6 Maryland and No. 13 Towson at Minnegan Stadium was postponed because of snow.It has tentatively been rescheduled for May 5 at 7: 30 p.m. The decision was made by Tigers coach Tony Seaman and Terrapins coach Dick Edell 40 minutes before game time when Towson's grass field had already been covered by a few inches of snow.The Terrapins lead the series, 15-4, and have won the last four meetings. Maryland has never lost in nine appearances at Minnegan.

The sizzling weather and recent drought have produced ideal bay conditions for the Atlantic Blue Crab. The lack of fresh rainwater has allowed the ocean to permeate the bay, increasing the saline content, which crabs love.And the soaring temperatures have warmed the water, resulting in very active crabs. Perhaps the drought of '99 was a welcome change for the crabs, because there is no longer mention of a shortage.While crabbing on the Eastern Bay on Monday, I encountered a sight that commonly occurs in late August when the bay is at its warmest.

COLLEGE PARK -- The Duke men's lacrosse team has prided itself on being the best conditioned and most physical team in the nation. Now, you can add confident, too.Dealt a four-goal halftime deficit at Maryland yesterday, the No. 2 Blue Devils headed into the locker room and changed, well, nothing. From Duke's perspective, coming back was only a matter of time -- and the Blue Devils proved themselves right.Thrashing outmanned No. 6 Maryland in the second half, Duke scored the final five goals and shut out the Terrapins for the final 18 minutes for an 11-10 victory in front of 1,263 at wind-blown Byrd Stadium.

COLLEGE PARK -- Some observers consider the Maryland men's soccer team extremely young. Others view the Terrapins as very experienced.Yet everyone seems to agree where Maryland stands on the national scene.On the first media day in coach Sasho Cirovski's seven seasons at Maryland, the Terrapins fielded questions about the growing expectations, since two national publications selected them in their top three.The rankings -- No. 3 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and No. 2 by Soccer America -- represent the best preseason standings for the Terps under Cirovski.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland defender Nick Downing cupped his hands behind his head and collapsed to his knees as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Terrapins forward Taylor Twellman walked off the field hastily while shaking his head, contemplating the missed opportunities, as well as his future.Gambling to score in the waning minutes of regulation, Maryland's men's soccer team had its national championship run busted with one mistake in NCAA tournament first round yesterday.Counterattacking off a Terrapins turnover, St. John's midfielder Carlo Acquista broke free to score the game's only goal uncontested with 1: 37 remaining, lifting the unseeded Red Storm to a 1-0 upset of No. 7 Maryland before 910 at Ludwig Field.

Maryland lacrosse coach Dick Edell fixed his eyes on the scoreboard after the game and let out a laugh.Receiving goals from some unlikely areas, the No. 10 Terrapins scored five consecutive times in the second half to pull away to a 15-11 victory over unranked Towson last night before 1,536 at Minnegan Stadium, providing Edell several reasons to smile.Maryland (9-4) eclipsed the 10-goal ceiling for the first time in 39 days, ending a single-digit stretch of five games -- the Terrapins' longest in 47 years.

COLLEGE PARK -- The Maryland Terrapins couldn't stop admiring their new defense during spring and summer practices. "That defense is something else," marveled senior quarterback Chris Turner in July. "It's really something to behold." But something happened on the way to Maryland's becoming a defensive dynamo. Like a new computer with bugs in the hard drive, the system installed by new defensive coordinator Don Brown kept crashing at the most inopportune times. After three games, the Terrapins had surrendered 119 points - nearly 40 per contest.

COLLEGE PARK -- Jack Heise's final letter arrived in Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen's office on Wednesday, two days after Mr. Heise's death. Mr. Friedgen fought back his emotions as he read it, hardly believing that Mr. Heise - a longtime Terrapins benefactor, alumnus and devout fan known as "Mr. Maryland" - would no longer be around to pen the upbeat, handwritten letters that had arrived faithfully every week for the nine seasons Mr. Friedgen has been coach. "Keep this winning up with a big win against the Deacons.

COLLEGE PARK - - In October 2008, Clemson and football coach Tommy Bowden parted ways with six games remaining in the season. The Tigers had slipped to 3-3, including a wrenching loss to Maryland, after being ranked in the top 10 in preseason polls. A year later, it's the Terrapins who are stumbling as they prepare for the annual meeting with Clemson on Saturday. But Maryland indicates there is no thought to replacing coach Ralph Friedgen during the season. Maryland plans to assess Friedgen's performance - as it does all its coaches - when the season is over and a thorough examination of the program can be made.

When Karri Ellen Johnson played for the gold-medal winning United States Under-19 women's lacrosse team two years ago, she was a bit intimidated by being among the best young players in the country. Last fall, when she got to Maryland as a freshman, she decided that would not happen again. "I felt like at Under-19s, I kind of played a little scared," said Johnson, a Broadneck graduate, "but I wanted to have a different freshman year. I didn't want to play scared or timid." Today, no one would call Johnson timid.

For the first time in Colonial Athletic Association history, a fourth-seeded team won the conference championship. The Towson women's lacrosse team held off a late comeback from second seed Delaware (10-8) to win its second straight CAA title with an 8-7 victory Saturday in Williamsburg, Va. The Tigers (13-5), who won their seventh straight game, receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins next weekend. The selections will be announced at 10 p.m. Sunday on CBS College Sports.

No. 7 UMBC's six-game winning streak was broken as host Hartford edged the Retrievers, 10-8, in men's lacrosse. UMBC (9-3, 3-1 America East) can still gain the top seed in the America East tournament with a victory over Vermont on Saturday at UMBC Stadium. The Retrievers outshot the Hawks 54-24, but freshman goalie Scott Bement made 19 saves for Hartford (2-10, 1-3). After Hartford scored the game's first two goals, UMBC took its lone lead as junior attackman Matt Latham followed a goal by Ryan Smith with back-to-back goals, giving the Retrievers a 3-2 lead two minutes into the second quarter.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Seventy seconds remained in the NCAA Raleigh Regional final between top seed Maryland and third seed Louisville on Monday night when Marissa Coleman stepped to the foul line. The Maryland senior had shot plenty of high-pressure free throws over the past month, as the Terrapins won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and advanced to their second straight Elite Eight, but at this moment, tears started to trickle down her face. Her team trailed by 19 points. The free throws would have no impact on the outcome of the game.

RALEIGH, N.C. -When the final buzzer sounded and top seed Maryland had finally put away fourth seed Vanderbilt, 78-74, in a heart-stopping NCAA Raleigh Regional semifinal Saturday afternoon, senior Marissa Coleman dropped to the RBC Center floor and squatted with her head down for a couple of seconds. The normally exuberant senior forward needed to catch her breath and rest for a moment. "I was exhausted," she said. And with good reason: Coleman played all 40 minutes, scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and made countless clutch plays in a game in which Maryland trailed by 18 points and didn't take its first lead until 2:17 remained.

The game: : Good defense, coaching were no match for tough Tigers. Sports, pg 1 results: : See how other teams fared. Sports, pgs 6,8 Bracket:: See 2nd-round updates. Sports, pg 8

ATLANTA -Before entering the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the Maryland Terrapins decided their magic number was two. Two wins to gain serious consideration for the NCAA tournament that they have missed three of the past four seasons. Two wins to prove - again - that they could compete with the ACC elite. Maryland fans even began sporting T-shirts with "two" on them. Last night, Maryland got the deuce it had been looking for. Against a larger, favored team in a season in which little was expected of them, the Terrapins willed their way into the tournament semifinals with a 75-64 victory over No. 8 Wake Forest.