Winning Streak

SAN DIEGO -- Is there anything out there that can trip up Tiger Woods? Nothing in the past six months anyway, at least on the PGA Tour, once again zoned as Woods' personal playground, just as it has been since last July when he started a winning streak at the British Open that reached seven straight yesterday with his fifth victory overall, and third straight, at the Buick Invitational. Woods took the lead with six holes to go at Torrey Pines, wound up with a 6-under-par 66, nudged Charles Howell III by two shots, finished with a 15-under score of 273 and, as is his habit, dug deeper into the history books.

If the encroaching parity in college men's lacrosse asserts itself in the NCAA tournament, it's going be a perilous ride for a number of favorites, starting with this weekend's first-round games. The danger signs seem clear for schools such as Albany and Maryland. The fifth-seeded Great Danes, who have had their best season at Division I, have never won a playoff game at that level, and they will face an athletic, unselfish, senior-laden Loyola team that could win a shootout in its first postseason game since 2001.

COLLEGE PARK -- The six seniors on Maryland's roster bid farewell to Comcast Center yesterday afternoon with satisfaction, knowing the reward for their recent sweeping success - a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three seasons - outweighed their "heavy hearts" as a sense of finality set in. Quite frankly, Maryland didn't want to play at home again this year. "I'm more happy it is my last game and that we don't have to come back and play an NIT game here, leaving the court and knowing it's my last game," said Maryland senior guard D.J. Strawberry.

Boys Daniel Hostetler River Hill, lacrosse The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior attackman-midfielder had nine goals, nine assists, scooped 22 ground balls and had four take-aways in Howard County League victories over Marriotts Ridge and Wilde Lake. The efforts raised his season totals to 36 goals, 40 assists, 120 ground balls and 32 take-aways, as the Hawks improved to 11-3. Bound for Georgetown on a lacrosse scholarship, Hostetler has career totals of 104 goals, 120 assists, 354 ground balls, 88 take-aways and 84 hits.

PLYMOUTH, MICH. -- The Blast brought back more luggage than cleats and jerseys from Michigan after last night's game with the Detroit Ignition. An eight-game winning streak had put the Blast atop the Major Indoor Soccer League standings. But that slipped away with a 14-7 loss to the Ignition. The Blast had overtaken Detroit with an 8-6 win over the California Cougars on Sunday and had an opportunity to secure the lead with a head-to-head victory. Instead, the Blast (15-10) lost its fourth straight to Detroit (16-10)

ATLANTA -- After Florida won the 2006 men's national championship, coach Billy Donovan told his players the best team did not win. Last night, it clearly did. In a matchup of the two winningest teams in college basketball this season, Florida proved it was the best with an 84-75 win over Ohio State, becoming the first team to repeat as national college basketball champions since Duke in 1992. There was a sense of deja vu as confetti rained on the Gators' celebration, just as it had last year, but at the same time, the crowd of 51,458 at the Georgia Dome witnessed a feat so rare and difficult that it had not been accomplished in this decade.

Carla Tagliente is smart and tough. She isn't scared of much, because if she can't think her way out of a situation, she'll muscle her way to the top.By the end of the weekend, the Maryland field hockey team (22-1) wants to end up tops in the nation. The Terps compete in the NCAA tournament final four this weekend in Boston, facing Iowa (19-2) at 12: 30 p.m. today. Connecticut (23-0) meets Michigan (19-6) at 3: 30 p.m."We've come this far, but it isn't over," Tagliente said. "We don't pay much attention to rankings and statistics.

The remaining schedule suggests that tonight could be the last chance for third-ranked Annapolis (14-0 overall, 8-0 league) to lose in the regular boys basketball season.No. 12 Old Mill (12-2 overall, 7-1 league) visits Annapolis at 7: 15 tonight with hopes of ending the Panthers' 14-game winning streak and gaining a share of first place in the county boys basketball league.Annapolis is within five victories of matching its school record for consecutive wins and wins to start a season (both at 19)

Second-ranked Duke defeated Harvard, 14-9, yesterday in men's lacrosse in New Canaan, Conn., outscoring the Crimson 10-5 over the middle periods en route to victory.The Blue Devils (8-0) trailed 2-0 after one period but went ahead to stay with five goals in the second quarter. Duke then outscored the Crimson (2-3), 4-1, early in the third quarter.No. 4 Syracuse 17, Brown 9: Ryan Powell's eight points (six goals, two assists) led the Orangemen (5-1) to victory at the Carrier Dome. Matt Cutia contributed two goals and three assists for Syracuse, which led 8-5 at halftime.

Ray Miller comprehends the inevitable when he sees it. That he also can feel it, hear it and taste it makes the sense only more palpable that this afternoon's game will be his last as Orioles manager.The Orioles must decide whether to exercise the option on Miller's contract before Thursday. Orioles officials have given no indication to believe that a search for Miller's successor won't be under way before the postseason's first pitch. Miller says he will remain in town until told.Miller says if fired he isn't likely to pursue an opening elsewhere as pitching coach as the last two years have constantly tested him professionally and personally -- so much so that he asked Peter Angelos to fire him several times this season if the majority owner thought it in his franchise's best interest.

FOOTBALL No. 7 Eastern Tech at No. 9 Hereford WHEN: : Friday, 7 p.m. OUTLOOK: : The biggest showdown in Baltimore County features a matchup between two 2008 state semifinalists: Hereford in Class 3A and Eastern Tech in Class 2A. The Mavericks fell in the 2A state final for the second straight year to River Hill. These teams have not met since 2006, when Hereford ended a seven-game Mavericks winning streak with a victory in the regular-season finale and then went on to win the Class 2A North region semifinal, 28-0.

WASHINGTON -Long after his team had fallen way behind and swaggered all the way back-and later, after the fireworks had popped, the clubhouse music had died down and most of his teammates had showered and left-soft-spoken relief pitcher Logan Kensing reclined in his clubhouse chair and said, "Lately it just seems like we're alive." Comebacks are the best litmus test for life; they require vigor at the exact depths where it's tempting to have none. The Washington Nationals have life. Down six early, their starting pitcher gone after five outs, again forced to ride a tired bullpen, playing their 22nd consecutive game without a day off, the Nationals battled back for a 12-8 victory over the Florida Marlins at Nationals Park, winning their season-high fifth straight game.

Athletics@Yankees 7 p.m. [MLB Network] OK, so maybe you saw enough of the Yankees while they were sweeping the Orioles in New York, but their winning streak has to come to an end at some point. Don't you want to be watching when it does?

The Yankees got started early, instead of waiting for their final swing. Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate, combining with Alex Rodriguez for back-to-back drives in a six-run first inning against Glen Perkins, and New York beat the visiting Minnesota Twins, 7-6, on a chilly Monday night to complete a four-game sweep. After stringing together three straight walk-off wins for the first time since 1972, the Yankees overcame a 2-0 first-inning deficit and hung on to extend their winning streak to a season-high six. Blue Jays 3, White Sox 2: : Alex Rios hit a go-ahead triple in the eighth inning and host Toronto defeated Chicago to complete a four-game sweep.

One week after a tough 16-15 loss to unbeaten and top-ranked Virginia, the No. 6 Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team suffered an even harder-to-swallow setback Saturday at North Carolina as the No. 13 Tar Heels got a goal from Sean Delaney 2:29 into overtime to slip past the Blue Jays, 10-9. Hopkins, which trailed for nearly the entire game before scoring twice in the final 5:16 to force the extra session, slips to 3-4 while the Tar Heels improve to 8-3. Hopkins won the faceoff in overtime but never seemed comfortable setting up, and senior Brian Christopher turned the ball over 15 yards in front of the goal in the middle of the field.

Junior Christina Dove (Bel Air) recorded a career-high eight points on six goals and two assists to lead Syracuse to a 19-11 victory over Towson at Johnny Unitas Stadium yesterday. The win extended the No. 4 Orange's winning streak to three and improved its record to 6-1, while Towson dropped to 4-2. Britt Woodfield's second goal of the contest gave Towson a 4-3 lead with 15:35 left in the first half. The Orange tied the score when Dove scored with 11:39 remaining. The goal sparked the Orange to a 9-0 scoring run to end the half.

Magic stops Celtics; Jazz win streak at 11 nba Dwight Howard (18 points, 15 rebounds) made two free throws with 13.9 seconds left to ice it after Boston cut a 22-point deficit to three, and the visiting Orlando Magic held on to beat the Celtics, 86-79, yesterday. Ray Allen had 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, scoring nine straight to make it 82-79 with 1:22 left. But Allen hit the back of the rim on a three-point attempt that would have tied it with 41 seconds left. Orlando (46-16)

Coach upset Ovechkin won't start All-Star Game nhl The Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's reigning Most Valuable Player and second this season in goals and points entering yesterday, finished only sixth among Eastern Conference forwards in voting for the All-Star Game - which mystified his coach. "It's dumb," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, adding, "It's not right the best player in the game is not a starter." The NHL announced the starting lineups for the midseason classic, and the host Canadiens filled four of the six slots for the Eastern Conference.

Paul Pierce scored 26 points on nearly perfect shooting and the Boston Celtics roared back from a rough road trip to beat the visiting Washington Wizards, 108-83, last night. Boston (29-5) went 1-3 on its West Coast swing after the best 29-game start in NBA history, 27-2. The Celtics were in charge from the start on their home court, where they're 18-1. Boston's lead reached 10 points with 4:15 left in the first quarter and stayed in double digits the rest of the way. Pierce made his first nine shots and all five three-point attempts before missing his final shot, a three.

For the Maryland men's basketball team, making sure to nail down the supposed easy ones is certainly important. All the Terps have to do is look back to last season when a few so-called early-season gimmes turned into losses and made Maryland's unsuccessful run for an NCAA tournament spot all the more difficult. However, as the Terps (9-2) take a five-game winning streak into tonight's nonconference home game against Elon (4-4), Maryland does have other objectives on its agenda, such as improving on its half-court offense.