Winning Streak

Mount Hebron's longtime girls lacrosse dynasty continued to erode yesterday at Centennial. The Eagles, wearing black face paint, ended Mount Hebron's 18-year Howard County winning streak by upsetting the Vikings, 7-5. It was a physical game dominated by Eagles goalkeeper Mary Teeters. Centennial also was the school that beat Mount Hebron 18 years ago. "This game will always be etched in my mind," Teeters said. "I've never had a feeling like this before. It's indescribable." Mount Hebron's 103-game winning streak ended last season, and a 10-year winning streak against Maryland teams ended earlier this season.

Ryan Rohde had a hat trick and the Salisbury men's lacrosse team extended its winning streak to 62 games with an 11-9 win over visiting Lynchburg yesterday. Rohde opened and closed the scoring in the first quarter with goals at 12:01 and 26 seconds left as the Sea Gulls (13-0) took a 5-2 lead. His and Salisbury's final goal came with 3:08 left in the game. Brian Kemper scored twice for the Hornets (9-1) to pull within one, 7-6, at the half. But Salisbury scored twice in the third quarter and traded goals in the fourth to ensure the win. Salisbury goalie Max Zarchin (St. Mary's)

BRANDYWINE - Dunbar's players and coaches knew their long winning streak would end at some point. They just didn't expect it to end like this. The top-ranked Poets turned in a mistake-riddled performance in yesterday's season opener against Gwynn Park. Dunbar committed 15 penalties, blew a 10-point halftime lead and gave up 27 second-half points as Gwynn Park rallied for a 33-32 victory. That win ended Dunbar's two-year, 25-game winning streak. The Poets last lost in the 2006 season against Edmondson and have won two state titles along the way. Coach Lawrence Smith gave his team a clear message afterward: The streak is over, and it's time to move on. "There was a lot of pressure on them, [but]

Randallstown's Bryan Parker couldn't stop grinning after learning Hereford's post-game statistics: 24 total rushing yards and one first down on 22 carries, 46 passing yards and three interceptions. "We were ready for them," said the 6-foot-2, 195-pound linebacker. "The difference was intensity. We just brought the wood." Parker's team-high 13 tackles were part of a hard-hitting, relentless defense that stopped cold the No. 2-ranked and two-time defending Class 2A state champion Bulls (2-1)

Severna Park senior setter Megan Boyd had expressed doubts before this season about how well her team would respond to first-year volleyball coach Julie Allen. "I thought we were going to struggle in the beginning," Boyd said. "But Julie's been awesome. She's really meshed well with us. I'm surprised, and anxious for the rest of the season." Last night, the top-ranked Falcons kept Allen's perfect coaching record intact with a 15-13, 13-15, 15-10, 15-9 victory over No. 2 Dulaney. Before a raucous home crowd, Severna Park improved to 7-0 and broke the two-time defending Class 4A champion Lions' 46-match winning streak.

It was during a weeklong break in the schedule at the beginning of this year when Spirit coach Mike Stankovic bid a not-so-fond adieu to 1997. The results couldn't have been much worse for a team accustomed to winning at that point.Even more depressing than the team's overtime loss in Cincinnati on New Year's Eve dropping it to 3-15, was the team's progress report."Maybe I overrated some of the young guys," Stankovic said. "I knew it was going to take time and a lot of hard work, but I never expected us to be this bad."

CHICAGO -- The Baltimore Orioles ran into another hot team last night, but this time they did not run into the usual trouble.Right-hander Ben McDonald held the Chicago White Sox scoreless for 5 2/3 innings and the Orioles bullpen did the rest, protecting a 3-0 victory that ended an eight-game Sox winning streak.The Orioles have become adept at playing the streak-buster. They ended the longest winning streak by any team this year -- the 15-game run by the Minnesota Twins in June -- and made short work of the longest White Sox winning streak since June of 1990.

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.

MIAMI -- There was no championship on the line last night in the Orange Bowl -- but you couldn't tell by watching the game that saw Florida State rally in the fourth quarter for a 31-26 victory over Notre Dame.The Seminoles and the Fighting Irish played as if their very reputations depended on the outcome. And in their minds it did.The Irish were trying to restore Notre Dame's reputation. They had finished 6-5-1 in 1994 and needed a six-game, season-ending winning streak just to get to this otherwise, somewhat meaningless Orange Bowl.

They didn't have enough time to redo their comeback script, so the Orioles were unable to write a seventh chapter to their latest winning streak yesterday afternoon.Instead of falling behind early by a significant margin, as they had done the two previous nights and three times on the current homestand, this time the Orioles kept it close through the early stages.But there was no answer to the volley of late-inning home runs by Jim Leyritz, Bernie Williams and Danny Tartabull that the Yankees parlayed into a 9-5 victory that stopped the Orioles' winning streak at six. The loss also left the Orioles five games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays, who come in for the first of three games here tonight.