College soccer
Terps women advance in ACC tourney; Houapeu honored
Senior Molly Dreska's goal in the 71st minute lifted the No. 2-seeded Maryland women (16-2-1) to a 1-0 win over No. 7 seed Duke (10-7-3) on Wednesday night at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Cary, N.C. The victory was the Terps' first in the ACC tournament since 2003. Maryland won despite being outshot 18-7. Maryland will play Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the Virginia-Boston College match.
Division I men: UMBC senior forward Levi Houapeu was named the America East Striker of the Year on Wednesday, a year after taking home the conference's Midfielder of the Year honor. Houapeu leads the conference in scoring with 12goals and 27 points and is sixth in the nation in goals. Retrievers junior midfielder Andrew Bulls (McDonogh) joined Houapeu on the All-America East first team. UMBC junior goalkeeper Dan Louisignau and freshman forward Pete Caringi III (Calvert Hall) were selected to the second team, and Caringi and classmate Daniel Welsh earned All-Rookie honors. Junior fullback Vince Savarese (Archbishop Curley) was named to the All-Academic team. … Goals by Jason Herrick, Casey Townsend and Paul Torres led No. 3 Maryland (13-2-1) to a 3-0 victory against No. 13 William and Mary (12-3-2) on Tuesday night at Ludwig Field. The victory was the Terps' ninth straight and ended the Tribe's 10-match unbeaten streak. Zac MacMath made four saves forhis 10th shutout of the season.
Division III men: Host Johns Hopkins scored three times over a 3:38 span and the fourth-seeded Blue Jays (13-3-3) earned a 4-1 victory Wednesday over fifth-seeded Gettysburg (5-10-2) in a Centennial Conference first-round game. Hopkins will visit top-seeded and ninth-ranked Swarthmore on Saturday. … No. 25 Salisbury (12-3-4) converted all of its penalty kicks with the last coming from Justin Lambert as the No. 25 Sea Gulls won the shootout, 5-3, to escape an upset bid by visiting Stevenson (11-5-3) in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinals. The Mustangs got a goal in the 55th minute from sophomore Ansger Otto off an assist from junior Chris Sokolis (Perry Hall), and Salisbury tied it in the 70th minute on Pat Callahan's first goal of the season. The Sea Gulls will play York in the title game Saturday.
More colleges
Terps' O'Donnell again earns top ACC field hockey award
Maryland senior attacker Katie O'Donnell was named ACC field hockey Offensive Player of the Year for the fourth straight year, and freshman attacker Jill Witmer was selected as Freshman of the Year. Missy Meharg earned Coach of the Year. Junior defender Jemma Buckley and sophomores Megan Frazer, a midfielder, and Harriet Tibble, a defender, were named to the All-ACC team. O'Donnell is the only player in ACC field hockey history to earn the league's top individual honor all four years of her career; just two other athletes in any sport have earned Player of the Year four times: Clemson's Clyde Browne in men's soccer (1972-1975) and Duke's Amanda Blumenherst in women's golf (2006-2009).
Division III field hockey: Sophomore midfielder Kristen Wille scored with 3:58 left in the first overtime to give visiting Washington College (9-9) a 2-1 win over host Gettysburg (9-9) in a Centennial Conference first-round game. Junior defender Brittany Palasik (Archbishop Spalding) had two defensive saves — the 21st of the season and 29th of her career, breaking the unofficial NCAA Division III record. … Senior midfielder Kristen Haynor's first-half goal lifted Third-seeded Mary Washington (13-7) got past second-seeded St. Mary's (11-6) in the CAC semifinals, 1-0. The Eagles will play Wesley (13-8), which earned a 1-0 upset over sixth-ranked Salisbury (14-3) with a goal by Jessica Franklin in the 33rd minute.
Women's basketball: Freshman Alyssa Thomas had 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead No.21 Maryland over visiting Gallaudet, 90-37, in an exhibition Tuesday night. Junior Lynetta Kizer and freshman Laurin Mincy each scored 10 points.
Soccer
Ex-Terp Twellman retires; Najar is Rookie of the Year
Two years after being punched in the face in a collision with Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin while heading in a shot for the New England Revolution, 2005 Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player Taylor Twellman (Maryland) announced that he is retiring because of the effects of the concussion. Twellman, 30, a five-time All-Star, had 101 goals, sixth most in MLS history. "It's unfortunate to lose your career to an injury. It's not a choice," said Twellman, who didn't play in 2010. "When you're told that if you want to live your life and be healthy then soccer needs to stop, the decision's made for me." In 30 appearances with the U.S. national team, Twellman scored six goals.
More MLS: Midfielder Andy Najar, 17, of Honduras is the second D.C. United player to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Ben Olsen (1998), his coach for the second half of the season. Najar had five goals and an assist in 26 league matches (22 starts). He is the youngest player by four years to earn the honor and the first Rookie of the Year to come directly from the Academy level.
Good Works: The Highlandtown-based Craig Willinger Fund will pay for Jordyn Farrell, 17, of Suwanee, Ga., and her father to travel to Barcelona, Spain, this month to see FC Barcelona play Villareal at Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe. The fund, formed in 2009, seeks to improve the lives of children and young adults stricken with cancer by providing an opportunity to experience world-class soccer. Jordyn was diagnosed with dysgerminoma, a type of ovarian cancer, after the discovery of a tumor in February 2009, and completed treatment in November after a recurrence of the disease.
Horse racing
Injured Laurel jockey Russell to miss rest of fall meet
Sheldon Russell, 23, Laurel Park's second-leading rider, will miss the final seven weeks of the fall meeting, which ends Dec. 18, after suffering eight broken ribs, three of them puncturing his lungs, in a fall during Saturday's second race while riding Like A Cat. Russell had surgery Saturday night at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and is resting at home.
—From Sun staff and news services