Terp women’s lacrosse falls short

Awww, don't worry Alexcia...you're still hot.

Looks like UNC pulled the upset on the lady Terps to end the theretofore perfect season. The Terps apparently fought hard but were frustrated by the Heels. It came as a surprise to at least some people, as the lead of Inside Lacrosse’s game summary notes that the Terps will meet Northwestern in the c-ship. Were that it were so, but there will be no dream final for women’s lacrosse fans this year.

This also brings the on-field action of the Terps’ 2008-2009 athletic year to a close. Think of something you once saw in an NCAA commercial about the great contributions and constitutions of the student-athlete, and repeat that something to yourself right now. If you are so inclined. Goterps.

(Photo credit:  Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. / May 22, 2009)

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Terp women’s lacrosse is last team standing

Baseball’s done, golf is done, the major sports are long done. Soon enough, all the Terps bloggers and reporters will turn to that most popular of offseason sports…endless speculation on where some flighty (but long…very long) teenager will attend college. It’s like the opposite of the hot stove league — cold fridge league, maybe? I don’t want to name any names, but let’s hope for sanity’s sake that the interminable melodramas of some of these commitment-phobes — let’s just refer to them collectively as Shmance Shmevenson — come to an end sooner rather than later. Then we can all go back to covering those heated field hockey training camp position battles.

But not so fast, my friend! Before that all happens, we’ve still got some bidness to handle on the field. Some serious bidness. We’ve got another title in play, baby. The Terp women’s lacrosse team rallied last week against Syracuse to avenge the men’s loss. And tonight, they face the familiar faces of North Carolina, a team the Terps beat 13-8 in the regular season. Ten of 12 Inside Lacrosse staffers picked the Terps to win, so that’s gotta mean something. Check out their slightly scrambled but still very insightful preview here.

The tournament has pretty much gone according to plan. Northwestern, the four-time (good god) defending champion, and the Terps, who with nine titles are the nation’s winningest program overall (that’s right bitches), are still on a collision course. Both teams are undefeated. If the Terps can get past the Heels, and the Wildcats beat Penn, we could have one for the ages.

Friday’s games and Sunday’s championship game will be broadcast on CBS College Sports. Whatever that is, I don’t think I have it. Maybe I’ll listen on WMUC. Sure, you can’t get reception outside of South Campus Dining Hall, but whatever. That won’t be weird. I’ll eat chicken tenders.

Oh, and happy Memorial Day!

friedgen begins putting weight back on for morgantown road trips

There is no finer establishment in Morgantown than Gene's.

If Maryland has a football rival, their neighbor to the west is it.  The Terps announced that they have added games against WVU in 2012-13 to the games the two teams had already scheduled for 2011-12.  I am happy to see that WVU is back on the schedule.  The Mountaineers are 23-21-2 all-time against the Terps.  For all intents and purposes, that’s a dead heat.  More importantly, WVU averages 11.6 fan ejections per game every time they visit College Park, including an average 3.5/gm for public urination and 2.7/gm for sheer ugliness.  The bitterness between these two schools is tangible.  Sure as the sunrise, the two states share a border that was once in dispute, and since that time there is no love between Marylanders and West Virginians.

Shell Games was live at Gene’s Beer Garden in Morgantown for The Mayor’s birthday party on May 8th to get reaction.  Our correspondent does not remember much of that evening except that beers were less than $2 and that Morgantown is a very dark place in the evening.  The darkness does much to hide the large beards and bellies of the men and women who roam the streets in this wayward town.  We did get a reaction from The Mayor himself.

He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
What a killer.

There you have it folks.  The Mayor himself smells blood in the air.  When the Terps once again dance across the waters of appropriately named Cheat Lake, a grudge will be renewed and blood will be spilled.  Football season is just that much more fun when you have a rival.

the boys of spring

For the sixty-second straight year, the University of Maryland will not be represented at the College World Series.  Don’t look for them at the ACC Tournament, either.  During the time of year that I just start noticing that baseball is being played, the Terps are once again nowhere to be seen.  I would say that all hope is lost for a team when their school issues a news release getting excited about finishing .500 for the second year in a row.  Record-wise the Terps are playing at the Mendoza Line.  Mediocrity is not something we should be celebrating.

The team was outscored by almost a half a run per game.  Junior Scott Swinson, the team’s ace starter coming into 2009, seems to be getting progressively worse each year.  Swinson was 4-7 and had a 5.54 ERA this year after having a 3.97 ERA in 2007 and a 4.96 ERA in 2008.  Either opponents have figured Swinson out or he is not being developed properly, but this season did not yield progress for a kid that was touted as a potential pro.

On the bright side, the Terps did hit fairly well.  They should have 2B David Poutier and RF A.J. Casario back at the top of the line-up next year.  Both guys had solid years at the plate, and with another off-season they should be ready to lead this team in 2010.

The summer is long for a ballplayer when there are no games to be played.  The beautiful thing about baseball is that every spring each team gets to start fresh.  Maybe 2010 will be the year this team emerges and makes it into the ACC Tournament.

Let me be the last to make a Bill Gramatica joke at Brian Phipps’ expense

So Brian Phipps went down with a torn ACL after jumping around protesting a call. That is…embarrassing. What other word can I use? It’s a freak accident, and I hope Brian is OK, but it was just embarrassing. And in a way, perhaps it was symbolic. As it turned out, it was the beginning of the end of the Maryland mens’ lacrosse season, as they would eventually fall to Syracuse 11-6.

The parallels with the hoops team continued…as in basketball, the lacrosse team followed up a first-round upset in the tournament with a loss to a number-two seed. I know…I’m freaked out too. Overall, both teams showed flashes throughout the season, and had a reasonable amount of success, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough in either case to live up to all of the expectations that people have, rightly or not, for the two programs. In a nutshell, both teams underacheived for most of the season, then overacheived late, but not enough to make the deep run that many hoped for before the initial underacheivements. Or something like that.

However, the lacrosse team, with 12 seniors on board, were the bigger disappointment. They actually set a team record for losses in a season with seven. Here’s hoping they bounce back next year. Brian, take care of that knee. Hope you don’t end up enshrined in some Wacky Injuries blooper reel. No way you’re bumping Milton Bradley off that list.

Maryland-Syracuse Lacrosse Preview in 50 words or less

Unseeded Terps three-goal underdogs versus #2 Syracuse.   Defending champion Orange rock solid in all phases. Terps midfielders like Dan Groot and Grant Catalino spark offense. ‘Cuse too much firepower for shootout. If Terps want upset, try to get early lead, then sit on it.

Saturday noon ESPN2.  Go Terps!  Boom.

Is the Franchise coming back to the CP?

The Diamondback is reporting that former Terp star and recent NBA departure Steve Francis might be on his way back to College Park — or at least his money will be. The D-back article named the Franchise as a possible investor in Santa Fe Cafe, the venerable downtown College Park watering hole.

Rickety

The article adds that “the Fe” is closing May 24 for major renovations, which will include a name change and possibly recasting the establishment as more of a live music venue. Good. CP needs that. Here’s hoping that the quesadillas are also recast. It’s like eating wood glue squeezed between two tortillas.