Tough Game

Top-ranked North County scratched across an unearned run in the fourth and Kellie Evans limited Severna Park to two hits as the Knights defeated No. 3 Severna Park, 1-0, yesterday in Ferndale.Evans, a senior, had all her pitches working yesterday, relying on a fastball with good location but using an occasional slow change to keep the Severna Park batters guessing.She struck out three and had plenty of defensive support. She also scored the game's only run after singling in the fourth inning.

If this year is truly the Ravens' road to the Super Bowl, they must prove they can survive the road at the beginning of the season. With one of the most brutal starts in the NFL this season, the Ravens travel for four of their first six games. To make the challenge even greater, three of those road games are against 2009 playoff teams (the New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots) who went to the playoffs last season and the other happens to be at the Ravens' chief AFC North rival (the Pittsburgh Steelers)

Blast forward Lee Tschantret, out since the second game of the season with torn rib cartilage, has returned to practice and is expected to play this weekend. After back-to-back road wins against Philadelphia and Harrisburg last weekend, the Blast (4-0) return home to take on Harrisburg tonight and the Bufflao Blizzard tomorrow. Both games start at the Baltimore Arena at 7:35 p.m. Last Saturday, the Blast left Harrisburg with an 18-13 win to spoil the Heat's home opener. Both wins for Harrisburg (2-2)

Obviously, the Orioles were hoping that the arrival of Buck Showalter two weeks ago would be an elixir for what was -- at the time -- baseball's losingest team, but Andy MacPhail wasn't expecting the club to turn on a dime. Sometimes, timing really is everything, and through the miracle of perfect hindsight, we now know that Aug. 3 was the perfect day to start the Showalter era. "I didn't expect us to be 10-4 [before Tuesday night's loss], but I did feel the date was important," MacPhail said.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Freshman guard Michael Keyes came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points and lead Towson State to a come-from-behind, 74-70 victory over North Carolina-Asheville in a Big South Conference Game last night.It was the Tigers' 20th victory, marking the first time Towson has won 20 as a Division I program.Towson (20-8, 15-3) trailed by four halfway through the second half, but Keyes scored eight straight Tigers points and Ralph Blalock made two free throws to give them a 64-63 lead.

CLEVELAND -- The Spirit rallied behind three goals by Tarik Walker to hold off the Cleveland Crunch, 16-14, last night before 10,016 at the Cleveland State Convocation Center.The win, which gives the Spirit a three-game lead over the Crunch, just about assures the Spirit home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the NPSL playoffs.Although the victory didn't clinch the American Division title for the Spirit, Baltimore has the first tiebreaker in its hand, having swept the four-game series with Cleveland.

The sequel to Dunbar vs. Lake Clifton was better than the first game two weeks ago, but the outcome was the same.Top-ranked Dunbar advanced to tomorrow's championship game of the Baltimore City Public Schools Tournament by holding off No. 4 Lake Clifton, 74-60, before 3,850 last night at Morgan State University's Hill Fieldhouse.Dunbar will meet No. 3 Southern in the championship game at 4:45 p.m. Southern beat Walbrook in yesterday's other semifinal, 66-58.This will be the second meeting between Dunbar and Southern this season.

The winners find a way.An offensive slump forced Coppin State to do just that last night, and the Eagles equaled their longest home winning streak ever with a 55-47 triumph over Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Bethune-Cookman.It was the 24th straight victory at the Coppin Center for the Eagles, who were involved in their lowest-scoring game since the MEAC championship contest of 1990, when North Carolina A&T's slowdown failed to beat them in a 54-50 game.Coppin (7-8, 4-1) looked every bit like a team ripe for an upset.

TOP FIVE RECEIVERS Player, Team...Rec...Yds...TD Moss, Vikings...10...160...1 Ward, Steelers...13...149...1 Smith, Jaguars...10...136...1 Robinson, Seahawks...6...122...0 C. Johnson, Bengals...6...117...1 TOP FIVE PASSERS Player, Team...C-A...Yds...TD Culpepper, Vikings...33-47...330...1 Hasselbeck, S'hawks...26-35...328...3 Maddox, Steelers...28-42...313...1 Stewart, Bears...22-37...284...2 Manning, Colts...29-48...278...4 TOP FIVE RUSHERS Player, Team...Att...Yds...TD Portis, Broncos.

LANDOVER -- The snow stood in the way of most of the audience last night, but it was two stubborn goaltenders who would not give up the fight and two defenses that would not fold that stood in the way of either team getting a victory.The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers played to a grueling 3-3 tie, as Capitals goaltender Don Beaupre stopped 18 of 21 shots by the Panthers and Florida's John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 43 of 46 shots by the Caps."It's a good tie, a good point," said Capitals coach Terry Murray after his team maintained its one-point lead over the Panthers in the Atlantic Division.

This weekend, Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium will host the second-largest crowd ever to watch an NCAA Final Four. The contests will feature 20 young men wearing sophisticated armor playing on a 110-yard field, an unlikely culmination for a sport invented in the 15th Century by Native Americans, using up to 1,000 athletes wearing next to nothing, playing on a field ranging over several miles. Lacrosse might have been a niche sport for the Huron and Iroquois tribes, and several centuries later confined to eastern prep schools and colleges.

PITTSBURGH -- First-year Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin watched the tapes of last season's blowout defeats to the Ravens in the process of learning more about his own team as well as its next opponent. As for the Steelers who played in the 27-0 bashing at M&T Bank Stadium and the subsequent 31-7 humiliation at Heinz Field, the experience was painful enough without reliving it. "It's good to have short-term memory loss," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said before practice here yesterday.

College Park -- Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen was able to pinpoint the moment he recognized a major disparity between his program and one of the nation's perennial powers. It was his first season, and the first quarter of the Orange Bowl, where the Terps met Florida. Season opener William and Mary@Maryland, Saturday, 6 p.m.; 105.7 FM, 1300 AM FIVE QUESTIONS Will the Terps get back to a bowl? The schedule is unforgiving, so they're going to have to win one they're not supposed to - meaning steal one from Clemson, Miami, Boston College or Florida State.

It started in the offseason when Javy Lopez and his agent told Orioles officials that the displaced catcher would be open to a trade. Then came a short stint as the Orioles' everyday first baseman, an experiment that ended days before the team exited spring training and headed north. Lopez was growing to tolerate his role as the Orioles' designated hitter when a back injury sent him to the disabled list. Now a whirlwind five months has brought perhaps the most jarring change of Lopez's career.

In the Class 3A East region, the top-seeded Long Reach boys basketball team will have to fend off opponents from all directions. Along with several county rivals, Long Reach faces No. 14 Annapolis from Anne Arundel and Harford County's Aberdeen and Edgewood. First-round regional play starts on Saturday. Annapolis has the size to contend with Lightning standouts Darryl Webb and Davon Wall in front-court players Daishawn Anderson and Kevin Coates, last year's Anne Arundel Player of the Year.

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- It wasn't difficult to spot 7-foot-1 center Will Bowers plodding around one of the four pools here at the Westin Maui Resort and Spa, wearing a red Maryland visor and with a towel draped around his neck. As it turned out, a 2-1 finish in the Maui Invitational gave the men's basketball team a little time to relax. In between, there was some time to think. Bowers and a few of his teammates sat in lounge chairs around the pool Monday night after the Terps' 88-76 loss to No. 9-ranked Gonzaga, the eventual tournament runner-up.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Maryland Terrapins slipped past the North Carolina State Wolfpack last night in spite of themselves. Avoiding a major upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams, the No. 8 Terps overcame a slew of their own shortcomings, battled through a foul-plagued contest that stretched for nearly 2 1/2 hours, and finally leaned on the late heroics of guards Juan Dixon and Steve Blake while escaping with a 72-65 victory before...

TodayOakland Mills (1-0) at Linganore (1-0)Time: 7:30 p.m.Outlook: Linganore's strengths are size and defense. Oakland Mills' strengths are speed and offense. Oakland Mills is expecting perhaps its toughest game of the season. Linganore defeated Oakland Mills, 16-13, a year ago. If Linganore has a weakness it is lack of speed. Oakland Mills' speed advantage is highlighted by RB Fardan Carter, whose opening-day numbers in a 27-6 win over Aberdeen included 16 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

D.J. Comer converted Andrew Reinhardt's pass 24 seconds into overtime, lifting visiting fifth-ranked Calvert Hall over No. 8 Mount St. Joseph, 6-5, yesterday. Reinhardt had two assists and Phil Blevins and Kevin Kelly each scored twice as the Cardinals (10-4 overall, 6-3 league) likely secured a berth in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs. The top six in the 11-team conference reach the postseason. The Gaels (8-5, 3-5) probably are out of contention.

With its win over North Carolina on Saturday, Maryland not only pulled off its first upset of the season, but secured the third seed in next week's Atlantic Coast Conference women's tournament. A loss would have sent the Terps to the tournament's first-ever play-in game against ACC newcomer Virginia Tech. Instead, Maryland will meet Virginia in the semifinals April 29 at M&T Bank Stadium, while North Carolina plays Virginia Tech in the play-in game April 28. The 14-7 win over then-No.