Washington

Last May, Washington College ended a three-year drought from the NCAA tournament, but dropped a 5-4 decision to Goucher in a first-round game at Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium in Chestertown. That quick exit has lingered around the program, and coach Jeff Shirk said the players are using it as motivation for Wednesday's first-round home game against Colorado College (13-4). “The big thing is, I think the guys believe they deserve to be there,” Shirk said Monday. “So we're not wide-eyed.

Despite finishing behind Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg in the regular-season standings in the Centennial Conference, Washington College earned an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament over the Diplomats and Bullets. The decision did not shock coach Jeff Shirk. “I had the mindset that because Dickinson won [the conference tournament], [the selection committee was] going to take two teams from the Centennial, and I thought they would take us over F&M,” Shirk said Monday morning, referring to South region rankings putting the Shoremen at No. 6 over Franklin & Marshall at No. 9 and Gettysburg at No. 10. “Just based on some of the criteria, I just felt that we were going to be ahead of Gettysburg and F&M even though we lost the head-to-head games this year.” Washington College (12-4)

For years, the Ravens quietly tried to make the case to the NFL that Baltimore-Washington would function best as a single television market. The current system -- in which the Redskins and Ravens have separate markets -- left some Ravens fans, in effect, behind enemy lines. The Ravens said in 2010 that about 12 percent of their personal seat license holders have residences in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia or Montgomery or Prince George's counties -- the domain of the Redskins.

Final exams begin Monday for students at Washington College and the upcoming weekend is a prime opportunity for them to review and study for the tests. But the members of the men's lacrosse team may find it difficult to look at a book as they await word from the NCAA selection committee about their postseason fate. The No. 10 Shoremen own a 12-4 record and are sixth in the South region rankings. But they got bounced by No. 2 Dickinson from the Centennial Conference tournament semifinals on Wednesday and will learn whether they have earned an at-large spot from the Pool C candidates when the 26-team field is unveiled late Sunday night.

When No. 10 Washington College and No. 2 Dickinson meet in Wednesday night's Centennial Conference tournament semifinal, it will be a rematch of the April 13 regular-season meeting in which the Shoremen suffered a 15-10 setback in Chestertown. If Washington (12-3) harbors any hope of pulling off the upset and tagging the Red Devils (15-0) with their first loss of the season, the Shoremen must avoid surrendering runs that plagued them in the first contest. Dickinson scored all five goals of the second quarter to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 advantage, embarked on a 4-0 spurt in a span of 1 minute, 46 seconds of the third period to take a 12-6 lead, and then scored three unanswered goals in 2:03 of the fourth quarter to assume a 15-9 advantage.

Wednesday night's Centennial Conference tournament semifinal against No. 2 Dickinson would normally be an unenviable task for any opponent. But coach Jeff Shirk said his No. 10 Washington College squad (12-3) is eager for a rematch of a 15-10 loss to the Red Devils (15-0) on April 13. “I think our guys are excited,” Shirk said Tuesday morning. “There have been a couple bumps in the road that everybody knows about, and the fact that we're actually in the tournament has guys excited.

New York Rangers forward Taylor Pyatt initially thought the team's equipment managers might not like him as much as Rick Nash. Each day, Pyatt would glance over to Nash's adjacent locker at the team's practice facility and notice long socks, wristbands, ankle braces and other assorted gear neatly arranged and folded — etiquette rarely seen within hockey dressing rooms. Pyatt figured it was at the request of New York's newest superstar, not the quirk of a meticulous neat freak. "I thought he was getting special treatment," Pyatt said this week, after watching Nash carefully fold and place every piece of equipment along a bench in front of his stall.

What does it require to get members of Congress to take action quickly and decisively on an issue of federal spending? Now we know. The possibility that they will be delayed in an airport terminal somewhere waiting for a flight out of town is apparently so abhorrent that the usual gridlock and party politics just don't apply. That's the take-away from last week's lightning-fast, lopsided bipartisan votes that transferred more than a quarter-billion dollars to the Federal Aviation Administration budget so that the agency would no longer have to furlough air traffic controllers.

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.