Washington College

As the five young writers sat with bated breath, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda told them that a life of wordsmithing would bring them pain. One of them would soon win the nation's most lucrative literary award, the Sophie Kerr Prize, and experience a moment of greatness. Dirda spoke to those who lost. "You will feel heartbroken for a while, but if you pursue a literary career, it's best to get used to that feeling," he said. On Tuesday night at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Washington College bestowed its annual Sophie Kerr Prize on Tim Marcin, a 22-year-old graduating senior from Wilmington, Del., who hopes to pursue a career in sports journalism.

Jim and Karen Claypool of Abingdon announce the engagement of their daughter, Sarah Claypool, to Steve Thacker, the son of Sam and Janet Thacker from Aberdeen. Claypool graduated from Bel Air High School and received her undergraduate degree from Washington College. Thacker graduated from Aberdeen High School and received his undergraduate degree from Towson University. Both are continuing their education in North Carolina. Claypool is a doctorate student at the University of North Carolina and Thacker is working on his master's degree at the East Carolina University.

Colleges Washington College men's, women's lacrosse teams remain undefeated Jim Cusick (Calvert Hall) scored the game-winning goal with 2:31 left off a pass from Bennett Cord to lift host Washington College (6-0) to an 8-7 victory over Ohio Wesleyan (4-3). … Mount St. Mary's senior attackman Andrew Scalley (Archbishop Spalding), who has 24 goals and 23 assists in eight games, has been added to the Tewaaraton Award watch list. Princeton senior midfielder Jeff Froccaro and Notre Dame freshman attackman Matt Kavanagh also were added.

Congratulations to Tim Marcin, winner of Washington College 's Sophie Kerr Prize, worth $61,192 this year. The 22-year-old  from Wilmington, Del., who is headed to Northwestern University, plans to pursue a sports writing career. That's a worthy goal -- to follow in the footsteps of luminaries such as Ring Lardner and Roger Angell. (I'd even toss John McPhee into the crowd.) According to the college, he submitted "poems whose subjects included teen romance, the music of Bob Dylan, and up-close perceptions of his father's well-worn coat, and the red stitches on a baseball.

Washington College announced that Andrea Clarke was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society for outstanding academic achievement in her freshman year. The daughter of Catonsville residents Marty Clarke and Ann Daniells carries a double major in English and drama. Clarke writes and edits the college's newspaper besides belonging to the Christian Campus Fellowship, the Cross Country Club and the Presidential Fellow Program. She is also involved with Relay for Life and the drama department productions.

After opening the season with back-to-back losses, Washington College has racked up six consecutive wins and moved to the top of the Centennial Conference with a 3-0 record. And some of the team's resurgence can be traced to an emerging defense. A unit that surrendered 10 goals per game last year has trimmed that average to 6.4 in eight contests this season. Coach Jeff Shirk said close defensemen Bryan Botti, Michael Pierandri and Jack Vermeil, short-stick defensive midfielders David Lundquist and Morgan Braendel, long-stick midfielder Stephen Pappas and goalkeeper Peter Stewart have gotten comfortable in their second year in the unit's schemes.

At 10-1 and ranked No. 10 in the most recent United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, Washington College is enjoying one of its more successful campaigns in recent history. But the team is thriving despite a troubling pattern of slow starts. The Shoremen have ended the first quarter with only a one- or two-goal lead in four contests, and although they won all four games, the margin of victory for two of those was just a single goal. During a three game-stretch against McDaniel on March 23, Haverford on March 27 and Franklin & Marshall on March 30, the team trailed at the start of the second quarters in each of those contests.

No. 4 Stevenson can sit back Sunday and celebrate a hard-fought, come-from-behind 17-13 victory over No. 11 Washington College in Saturday night's NCAA tournament second-round contest at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills. As much as talent and mental fortitude played a role in the team outscoring the Shoremen 6-1 in the pivotal fourth quarter, the Mustangs know they cannot afford to fall behind again when they meet No. 13 Lynchburg (14-5) - a 12-9 winner over No. 7 Roanoke - at home on Wednesday at 7 p.m. “We definitely have to jump out on them early,” sophomore midfielder Billy Burgoyne said of the Hornets.

While the NCAA selection committee has Rating Percentage Index and strength-of-schedule rankings to review regarding the 16-team field of the NCAA Division I tournament, the committee in charge of the NCAA Division III version has another tool. The NCAA ranks contenders in the North and South regions, and the most recent list was released Wednesday. No. 4 Stevenson, No. 7 Salisbury and No. 10 Washington College are ranked in the top five of the South region. The Mustangs are ranked No. 3 with a 14-2 overall record and a 12-2 in-region mark.

No. 13 Washington College has long forgotten about Saturday's 16-8 victory over Goucher, a result that avenged a two-game sweep by the Gophers last season. The impending visit by a higher ranked opponent can have that kind of effect. Washington & Lee (4-0) is scheduled to visit Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium in Chestertown this Saturday. The Generals edged then-No. 1 Salisbury, 7-6, in double overtime and then-No. 10 Denison, 8-7, last week to move up to No. 9 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll.

As the five young writers sat with bated breath, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda told them that a life of wordsmithing would bring them pain. One of them would soon win the nation's most lucrative literary award, the Sophie Kerr Prize, and experience a moment of greatness. Dirda spoke to those who lost. "You will feel heartbroken for a while, but if you pursue a literary career, it's best to get used to that feeling," he said. On Tuesday night at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Washington College bestowed its annual Sophie Kerr Prize on Tim Marcin, a 22-year-old graduating senior from Wilmington, Del., who hopes to pursue a career in sports journalism.

For five minutes, 17 seconds, it would not have been difficult to assume that Dimitri Pecunes felt as if he had let down his Stevenson teammates. The freshman goalkeeper had surrendered five goals in the first quarter of the No. 4 Mustangs' home contest against No. 11 Washington College at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills Saturday night and was promptly pulled for sophomore Kevin Cain at the start of the second period. But that was not the approach the Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate had taken as he stood on the sideline.

No. 4 Stevenson can sit back Sunday and celebrate a hard-fought, come-from-behind 17-13 victory over No. 11 Washington College in Saturday night's NCAA tournament second-round contest at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills. As much as talent and mental fortitude played a role in the team outscoring the Shoremen 6-1 in the pivotal fourth quarter, the Mustangs know they cannot afford to fall behind again when they meet No. 13 Lynchburg (14-5) - a 12-9 winner over No. 7 Roanoke - at home on Wednesday at 7 p.m. “We definitely have to jump out on them early,” sophomore midfielder Billy Burgoyne said of the Hornets.

Despite being located in the same state, these two programs have not met since March 21, 2007, when Washington College emerged with a 10-5 decision. The Shoremen (13-4) - ranked 11th in the most recent United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll - have split their last three contests, but secured their first postseason win since 2008 with a 10-7 win against Colorado College in the first round this past Wednesday. Eight different players have scored at least 10 goals each - a group led by senior attackman Bennett Cord's 33 goals and 28 assists.

The Stevenson men's lacrosse team did not enjoy its first lead of Saturday night's NCAA tournament second-round contest against Washington College until 54 minutes had elapsed. But that was all the Mustangs would need. Senior midfielder Nick Rossi's blast from the left point with 5:42 gave Stevenson a 14-13 lead, and two goals from sophomore attackman Mark Pannenton and one from sophomore midfielder Billy Burgoyne gave the No. 4 Mustangs some extra breathing room en route to a 17-13 win against the No. 11 Shoremen before an announced 740 at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills.

No. 11 Washington College's 10-7 victory over Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA tournament Wednesday propelled the team to a second-round matchup with No. 4 Stevenson Saturday night. The outcome also gave the program its first win in the postseason since 2008. “It's big,” coach Jeff Shirk said Friday morning. “I think it helped the guys gain some confidence. Last year, we experienced the tournament, but this year, we experienced a win. I think it's a pretty big steppingstone in trying to get where we're headed.” Last season, the Shoremen dropped a 5-4 decision to Goucher in the NCAA tournament first round.

Shiraz Maher went to the mosque in search of answers. Why, he wanted to know, had 15 young men from Saudi Arabia, the country where he spent most of his childhood, just crashed jetliners into prominent U.S. buildings? The men who gave him clarity wore fashionably tailored suits and spoke as easily of Shakespeare and Hegel as they did of the Quran. The 20-year-old Briton found these Muslims - as urbane as they were devout - completely alluring. By the time U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan three weeks later, Maher was a recruit of Hizb ut-Tahrir, or Party of Liberation, an organization devoted to creating a pan-Islamic state ruled by religious law. "America, in my mind, had gone to war with Islam," says Maher, now 30, from a sunny patio on the campus of Washington College.

Despite being located in the same state, these two programs have not met since March 21, 2007, when Washington College emerged with a 10-5 decision. The Shoremen (13-4) - ranked 11th in the most recent United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll - have split their last three contests, but secured their first postseason win since 2008 with a 10-7 win against Colorado College in the first round this past Wednesday. Eight different players have scored at least 10 goals each - a group led by senior attackman Bennett Cord's 33 goals and 28 assists.

Four Division III teams from the area will open the first round of the NCAA tournament this Wednesday. Stevenson (17-2) will play host to Christopher Newport (8-8), Washington College (12-4) welcomes Colorado College (13-4), St. Mary's (12-6) visits Lynchburg (12-5), and Salisbury (14-5) hosts Susquehanna (12-6). Here is what each coach had to say about his team's respective first-round opponent. Salisbury coach Jim Berkman on Susquehanna: “Not much, other than their coach is a former Sea Gull.

Colleges Ex-Raven Testaverde chosen for football HOF The National Football Foundation announced that former Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde will be a member of the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class. Testaverde starred at Miami from 1982 to 1986. The entire class will be unveiled today during a news conference at the NASDAQ OMX MarketSite in New York's Times Square at 11:30 a.m. The Football Bowl Subdivision Class will be inducted at the NFF awards dinner Dec. 10 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.