Let's call it the Charles Street challenge.
When No. 4 Loyola takes a 15-minute walk down to battle top-ranked Johns Hopkins tomorrow night, the neighborhood feud will pit what many consider the nation's best offense against the game's premier defense.
The Greyhounds bring the pin-point shooters and finishers. The Blue Jays provide the in-your-face, long-pole defenders and a game-altering goalkeeper.
"We're going to try to make different guys make different plays for them," said Brian Voelker, Hopkins defensive coordinator. "I don't think there's many secrets to the way either of us play. It's just who goes out and executes."
In last year's regular-season finale, Loyola bypassed confronting the Blue Jays' close defensemen and instead exploited Hopkins' short-stick defenders, Paul LeSueur and Shawn Nadelen.
In the first half, the Greyhounds inverted against LeSueur and Nadelen, moving midfielder Mike Battista behind the goal. Battista scored a career-best four goals off these isolation sets in which the Hopkins long-stick defenseman failed to double team.
When the Blue Jays rotated their short sticks to Loyola's attackmen in the fourth quarter, the Greyhounds, in turn, looked to Tim O'Shea and Gewas Schindler, who each scored a goal.
Yet Hopkins still held Loyola to 10 goals in a 10-7 loss and has stifled opponents to 11 or fewer goalsin 12 of its past 14 games.
"We made a couple of mistakes and gave them some goals where we didn't really slide or help guys," Voelker said. "That's not the style of defense we play. We're going to have to buckle down and make some plays on defense. We have to get Carc in position to make some saves."
Ah, Carc, as in Hopkins' Brian Carcaterra, last year's Goalkeeper of the Year. He possesses the unique ability to humble the best attacks, and Loyola accepts the challenge.
"It's an incentive to really work on your shot," O'Shea said. "I know if you put a good shot on him, it's going to go; he's like any goalie. But he makes good saves too, so you have to pick and choose your shots. You can't just shoot the ball in the net and hope it goes in. You have to hit corners."
Snow shift
As a result of the snowfall on Tuesday, Sunday's game between No. 6 Maryland and No. 13 Towson might be shifted from Minnegan Stadium. The grass field has been covered, and Tigers coach Tony Seaman said a decision will be made today.
But a change of scenery may benefit Towson, which has lost all eight games against the Terrapins at Minnegan. Maryland has won the last four games at Towson by an average of three goals.
The weather also forced the Terrapins to postpone yesterday's home game against Penn State to Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Carrier Dome heats up
In Syracuse's 14-12 win over Virginia on Saturday, the Carrier Dome needed to be heated to 85 degrees to ensure the roof wouldn't cave during the blizzard-like conditions.
However, the temperature seemed to be a littler hotter on the Orangemen's offensive end, where Syracuse attackman Ryan Powell and Cavaliers defenseman Ryan Curtis sparred verbally throughout the game. Although the matchup proved physical, Curtis committed only one penalty, shoving Powell after a whistle to draw a 30-second penalty with 2: 58 left in the game.
"He deserved it," Curtis told reporters after the game. "I'd do it again."
Powell, who scored just one goal in the head-to-head matchup, admitted he could have been flagged with a taunting foul.
"Ryan Curtis is obviously all he's said to be," Powell said. "He's one of the top defenders in the country and he showed it today."
Delaware takes off
How do Fighting Blue Hens gain respect? By beating Flying Dutchmen.
Fielding its best team in memory, No. 10 Delaware will be looking for a milestone victory Saturday to secure its place in the national picture. The Blue Hens head north to play at Hofstra, the four-time America East Conference champion which is 21-0 since joining the league.
"We want to put an end to that," Delaware goalkeeper Ron Jedlicka said. "We want to go up there, get a big win and get on a roll."
Terps women No. 1
With its season-opening win over Penn State, the four-time defending Maryland women's lacrosse team became Division I's all-time leader in victories with 329, surpassing Penn State. The Terrapins, who play Syracuse at home on Saturday, raised that total to 331 with wins last week over two top-five opponents, North Carolina and Duke.
Stat of the week
Loyola has never beaten Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in the 60-year-old Charles Street rivalry. The No. 4 Greyhounds, who play the top-ranked Blue Jays at Homewood tomorrow night, have won just two games in the 36-game series, both coming at Loyola's Curley Field. A look at the results between the schools since the series resumed in 1993 after a 24-year absence:
Yr. Site Result
'93 Homewood JHU, 16-11
'94 Curley LC, 17-15
'95 Homewood JHU, 12-11
'95 Homewood-x JHU, 18-5
'96 Curley JHU, 12-10
'97 Homewood JHU, 14-12
'98 Curley LC, 10-7
xNCAA quarterfinals
Pub Date: 3/11/99