Wildcats

The South River boys lacrosse team showed an uncanny ability to turn it on when it counted most Friday at Arundel. Down two goals to the host Wildcats early in the third quarter, the No. 15 Seahawks put on the clamps defensively and scored the game's last eight goals to come away with an impressive 13-7 win in Anne Arundel County play. Senior Nick Pappas led the way offensively with four goals and an assist, freshman Ben Chisolm scored two pivotal goals to start the take-charge fourth quarter and coach Paul Noone couldn't stop praising the collective effort on defense that shut down the Wildcats for all but the first 24 seconds of the second half.

Maryland and Northwestern haven't played during the regular season since 2007, but the two most successful NCAA women's lacrosse tournament teams are well-acquainted with each other. In 2010, the Terrapins won their 10th NCAA title by beating the Wildcats, 13-11, to end Northwestern's string of five straight championships. Last year, the Wildcats took the title right back, edging Maryland, 8-7. This year's showdown between the teams that have combined to win 15 of the past 20 NCAA titles comes a round earlier, in a national semifinal.

PASADENA, Calif. -- So, they didn't win. Lost it late in the fourth quarter.Big deal.The Northwestern Wildcats didn't need to beat Southern Cal yesterday in the Rose Bowl.Wildcats players, coaches and alumni will howl in disagreement, of course. They wanted to win. That would have been a lot more fun than watching USC receiver Keyshawn Johnson run so wild that he set a Rose Bowl record for receiving yards in the first 39 minutes of USC's 41-32 victory.But hey, you can't have everything. Especially when you're Northwestern.

Jasmine DePompeo had four goals and one assist, but Navy fell to North Carolina, 14-7, in the NCAA first round Saturday. The host Tar Heels (15-3) used a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half, and the Midshipmen (18-3) were unable to recover. No. 1 Florida 6, Albany 4: The host Gators (18-2) outlasted the Great Danes' offensive stall to push past Albany (12-6). No. 2 Northwestern 12, Notre Dame 7: Paced by a 15-5 advantage on draw controls, the host Wildcats (18-2)

In 115-pound youth football, the Gambrills-Odenton Recreation Council Wildcats spoiled the Anne Arundel Gridiron Rebels' homecoming last week, 39-6.The Wildcats (7-0-1) scored 33 points in the first half behind the running of backs Rocco Queen and Ricky Graves, who combined for 282 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Everett Anderson had a 40-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.Defensively, GORC was led by safety Ryan Morse's two interceptions and nose tackle Claude Parker's relentless line play.

Defending state 4A champion Arundel puts its lofty status and reputation on the line this week with two important road games.Coming off of a 3-1 loss to top-ranked Calvert Hall Saturday in the final of the Arundel Tournament, coach Bernie Walter's No. 3 Wildcats (2-1) visit No. 10 North County (2-1) this afternoon and No. 5 Chesapeake (2-0) on Friday.North County and Chesapeake both are coming off of Easter tournament victories, the Knights at North Caroline on the Eastern Shore and the Cougars at Thomas Stone in Charles County.

Norris Roy ran for two touchdowns and caught a third as the Gambrills-Odenton Recreation Council Wildcats defeated the Fort Meade Cougars, 21-6, in a county 95-pound football game Saturday.The undefeated Wildcats (9-0) will play host to Fort Meade (6-3) again Saturday in the first round of the playoffs.Roy opened the scoring in the first quarter when he hauled in a 59-yard pass from quarterback Kris Lundborg. Lundborg added the extra point on a keeper to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.Roy, who rushed for 58 yards on 10 carries, scored from 7 and 3 yards out, before Fort Meade scored in the fourth quarter.

Bellevue, Ky. -- NOW that the University of Kentucky basketball team is rehabilitated to national prominence, Kentuckians again have a reason to swell our tobacco-and-coal-perfumed chests. Other teams have fans. The Wildcats have true believers. I have never fully comprehended the quasi-religious attachment to teams, which even raw capitalism has been unable to extinguish, but what I have seen in UK believers passes all understanding.I can remember, for example, my father's heroic struggles for radio and television reception when I was a boy growing up in northern Kentucky in the 1960s.

DURHAM, N.H. - R.J. Toman threw for 292 yards and four touchdowns to lead New Hampshire to a 42-14 rout over Towson yesterday. The Wildcats (6-1, 3-1 Colonial Athletic Conference) won their 500th game as a football program. New Hampshire scored 28 points in the second quarter, sparked by Toman's 48-yard touchdown pass to Mike Boyle. Robert Simpson scored on a 68-yard run to put the Wildcats ahead 21-7. Sean Schaefer went 34-for-48 passing for 309 yards and threw one touchdown and two interceptions for the Tigers (3-5, 1-3)

LOS ANGELES -- Arizona doesn't have Duke's pedigree, but it does have the nation's best backcourt.The Wildcats won't give you Forty Minutes of Hell, but their defense has burned opponents.Coach Lute Olson doesn't have a underdog like the East is going to send to the Final Four, but after first-round losses the past two years, postseason expectations for his team weren't exactly high, either.Forget the nicknames and reputations. Yesterday Arizona completed a blitz of the West Regional with a 92-72 rout of top-seeded Missouri before 15,517 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and now the most dominant team of this NCAA tournament will try to prove that it's also the best.

Arundel senior David Nicholson, an All-Metro second team guard who averaged 18.1 points this past season, has committed to Widener University. A three-year varsity player, Nicholson averaged four rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.5 steals as the Wildcats (24-2) captured the Anne Arundel County and District V championships. For more on Nicholson, read the Q&A we did with him during the season .

No. 3 North Carolina (13-1) @ No. 1 Northwestern (12-0) Friday, 7 p.m. Outlook: Defending national champion Northwestern has won 21 straight games and is beating teams by an average of 8.6 goals, but the Wildcats have had a couple of close calls, needing overtime to dispense with then-No. 2 Syracuse and then-No. 13 Ohio State. The Tar Heels have that same upset potential. Although they're well behind in the series, 8-2, the Heels pushed the Wildcats to overtime last season before falling, 7-6. Both teams have played nine ranked opponents, with North Carolina's only loss coming in overtime.

Say what you will about John Calipari. Call him a sleaze-bag (he's been called worse) for his recruiting methods. Rip him for the vacated seasons and Final Four appearances at Massachusetts and Memphis when players and agents did questionable things on his watch. Mock him for how oily and unctuous he can sound in interviews.  But the man can coach. Anyone who watched Kentucky win its eighth national title last night -- 67-59 over Kansas -- and anyone who watched the Wildcats dismantle opponents all season long knows that.

Kentucky Wildcats fans won't have to wait long for a souvenir to mark the NCAA basketball championship. The Lexington Herald-Leader , in conjuction with KCI Sports Publishing, is rolling out "GR8TNESS," a keepsake that includes stories and photos from the season. (Kentucky-haters are likely to complain that the title's spelling reflects the "one-and-done" college careers of Wildcats who are headed to the NBA.)  

Memo to University of Kentucky campus police: get the pepper spray ready, boys. They'll be torching couches and playing "Flip the Toyota" again tonight after the Wildcats get past Kansas and win their eighth NCAAtitle -- although their first since 1998. Kentucky has at least five NBA-ready players and if you don't think Player of the Year Anthony Davis is the real deal, you didn't watch Davis and his famous unibrow dominate in the Wildcats' win over Louisville the other night. He scored "only" 18 points but seemed to be in the right place for every rebound and put-back.

Don Markus, reporter Kansas 71, Kentucky 69: There are some coaches who are destined not to win a national championship. Not saying that John Calipari is the Guy V. Lewis of his generation, but Bill Self coached a less talented Jayhawks  team over Calipari and Derrick Rose-led Memphis to win it all in 2008. It's going to happen again.  Chris Korman, content editor Kentucky 67, Kansas 55: This Wildcats team is no different than most of the teams John Calipari has led to the Final Four.

Apparently Lee Rogers and his No. 10-ranked Arundel Wildcats (7-2) don't intend to follow the script and, because they're so young, simply be the third-best county public school team.In fact, Rogers and his Wildcats have made it their goal to get to UMBC for the state playoffs this year, possibly a year early.No. 4 Annapolis (7-2) and No. 8 Meade (7-3) are the more experienced teams with more seniors than Arundel, which has only two, and the Panthers and Wildcats were last year's top two. Meade upset Annapolis to win the county championship, but the latter copped the Class 4A East region to earn the right to go to the final four at UMBC.

Arundel lightning struck Annapolis suddenly in the second half last night and the damage was all around for everybody to see in Gambrills.Moments after the 74-64 loss to the Wildcats, the No. 6 Panthers bolted to the locker room, picked up their clothes and headed back to Annapolis stinging.No wonder.It was the second time this season that No. 18 Arundel has upset Annapolis, the Panthers had been sailing along with a 46-30 lead early in the third quarter, Annapolis standout Germaine "Boo" Diggs missed nearly nine minutes of the second half due to foul trouble, and two losses this season have now been administered by the long-time rival Wildcats.

•Notre Dame attackman Nick Beattie will not play Sunday at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic against St. John's, coach Kevin Corrigan confirmed this week. "He's not ready to play yet, and it's not going to happen in the next couple weeks," he said. "It's one of those injuries that you just have to wait for. " An Inside Lacrosse report Feb. 29 said he would not return for six to eight weeks. Beattie was injured while scoring a goal in an early-season game against Duke.

•Villanova senior midfielder Matt Bell (St. Mary's) has been out with an unspecified injury but is likely to return Sunday against Syracuse. Bell (5 goals, 5 assists) dressed Saturday for Villanova's loss to Maryland but did not play. He also missed a 14-8 loss to Princeton on March 13. To make matters worse, his would-be replacement, junior Max Hart (6, 2), was also out with an injury Saturday. Hart made one of the plays of the season thus far, scoring on a 40-yard shot with one second remaining to defeat Penn.