Lacrosse

Washington Township is ahead of schedule, and so are the Tiernan twins. That's typical for the Minutemaids' sophomore midfielders. They always arrive faster than expected. "They have nationally ranked speed," Washington Township coach Sandy Stockl said. The Tiernans played a major role Wednesday as Washington Township built a big lead and held on for a 13-12 victory over Lenape in an Olympic Conference American Division lacrosse game. Although they combined for just one goal, the Tiernans made an impact with their ability to collect ground balls, race from end to end with the ball, and use their speed and quickness at the defensive end. "Our speed helps us out," said Megan Tiernan, the slightly faster, slightly smaller of the twins.

Player             School          Class             Major Karen Boyle        Rosemont          Sr.        Psychology Alli Dickey           Rowan             Sr. Mech. engineering Josie Ferri           Haverford          Jr.           Psychology Allison Furman       Ursinus             Sr.      Exercise & sport Jennifer James     Holy Family       Sr.

Tournament of Champions Semifinals Who: Moorestown (24-0) vs. Glen Ridge (21-3) When: Tuesday, 5 p.m. Where: Monmouth University Fast Facts: Moorestown, the Group 3 state champion, topped Glen Ridge, the Group 1 state champion, in the semifinal round of last year's Tournament of Champions, a game Moorestown won, 8-4. Other semifinal: Ridgewood vs. Chatham, 3 p.m. at Monmouth University....

Friday night's showdown in boys' lacrosse between No. 1 St. Augustine Prep and No. 3 Moorestown should be a good game. It also will be for a good cause. The 7 p.m. game at St. Augustine will be part of "Jack McGetrick Night" as the two lacrosse powers combine to help raise funds for a long-time lacrosse coach. McGetrick, head coach at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky., is battling prostrate cancer. There will be a $2 admission charge to the game, with all proceeds going to help with McGetrick's medical costs.

According to Bob Ruoff, executive secretary of District 1, boys' lacrosse is likely to become a sport sponsored by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. Last week, a proposal was made by District 3 officials at a PIAA meeting in Shippensburg. There were no votes against district playoffs in boys' lacrosse - an opportunity already accorded girls' lacrosse teams. "I think the time has come for it," Ruoff said. "Lacrosse is growing in numbers and popularity every year.

LACROSSE HAS largely been left out of the sports cinema pantheon. But never fear, LAX fans! You can finally experience your overwrought, life-lessons-via-athletics saga (complete with comely young stars) in the form of "A Warrior's Heart. " Kellan Lutz, proving why he is mostly eye candy in the "Twilight" franchise, plays Conor Sullivan, a West Coast-bred lacrosse player whose military dad moves his family across the country so Conor will have a chance of playing on the Naval Academy's team.

   The U.S. Lacrosse national convention is scheduled to be held at the Convention Center from Friday through Sunday.    The convention is billed as the largest professional development and networking event in the lacrosse world. Walk-up registration at the convention center will be available for $150.    Former Eagles defensive back and NFL head coach Herm Edwards is set to deliver the convention's keynote address at 7 p.m. on Friday. Four-time Super Bowl referee Jerry Markbreit is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Nicole McCarthy, who helped the Springfield field hockey team claim the PIAA District 1 Class AA championship just a few weeks ago, will play lacrosse on scholarship at American University in Washington. "I love the D.C. area," said McCarthy, who is a defensive wing in lacrosse. "The coach [Maureen Scott Dupcak] came to one of my hockey games. She's young, and I really like her and the team. The campus was great, not too big, not too small, and it was close enough to home. I feel I can get a lot out of the school.

Lacrosse Leading Scorers Here are the boys' and girls' lacrosse leading scorers through Tuesday: BOYS Ben Schwing, Shawnee. . . 42 Owen Demmerly, Shawnee . . . 40 Phil Bhaya, Haddonfield. . . 37 Mike Jevic, Eastern . . . 35 Mike D'Olio, Eastern . . . 32 Steve Pontrello, St. Augustine . . . 31 Marc Impagliazzi, Ocean City. . . 31 Steve Chapman, Washington Township. . . 31 Gabe Voumard, St. Augustine . . . 30 Sterling Long, Bishop Eustace.

Duke and Denver will join Cornell and top-seeded Syracuse in the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse Final Four this weekend at Lincoln Financial Field. David Lawson scored his career-best fifth goal with 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining to lift seventh-seeded Duke to a 12-11 win over No. 2 Notre Dame (11-5) in the quarterfinals Sunday in Indianapolis. In their seventh consecutive trip to the Final Four, the Blue Devils (14-5) will play Cornell at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Linc. Duke won the national championship in 2010.

THE NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four will be held next weekend at Lincoln Financial Field, and the semifinals now are set. Unseeded Cornell will play Duke at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Top-seeded Syracuse will play fourth-seeded Denver at 5 p.m. Saturday. The national championship game will be played at 1 p.m. Memorial Day. In yesterday's quarterfinals, Eric Law scored with 13 seconds left to cap Denver's big comeback in a 12-11 win over North Carolina in Indianapolis. Denver trailed by as many as six goals and was down five at halftime.

Steve Mock scored seven goals while Rob Pannell added two goals and six assists as unseeded Cornell routed third-seeded Ohio State, 16-6, in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals in College Park, Md., on Saturday. The Big Red (14-3) will face the winner of Sunday's Duke-Notre Dame match in next Saturday's semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field. Pannell moved into second on the NCAA's career points list with 347 points, six shy of former Duke attackman Matt Danowski's career record of 353. Mock scored all seven of his goals in the first half, including three in a span of 85 seconds as the Big Red broke things open.

No player would want it any other way, but there is an unintended consequence that comes with Archbishop Carroll's long streak of Catholic League girls' lacrosse titles. "It actually puts some pressure on the girls," coach Lorraine Beers said. "No one wants to be the one that breaks it or loses the streak. " There was no need for worrying about that Thursday. Archbishop Carroll beat St. Hubert, 20-2, in the Catholic League semifinals at Neumann University. Carroll will go for its 13th straight championship Monday against Cardinal O'Hara at Neumann at 6 p.m. O'Hara advanced to the title game by beating Archbishop Wood, 10-5, on Thursday.

The winners of Saturday's quarterfinals in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse championships will head to Villanova for the semifinals on May 24. The championship game is slated for May 26 at Villanova Stadium. The Division II and III semifinals and title games are both Saturday and Sunday in Owings Mills, Md. Maryland, undefeated in 20 games, is the top seed in Division I and will host unseeded Duke (14-5) on Saturday. No. 4 Syracuse (17-3) will host No. 5 Florida (18-2)

The men's lacrosse teams that will play for the NCAA Division I championship in Philadelphia will be determined this weekend. Winners of the quarterfinals Saturday and Sunday will advance to the semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field next Saturday at 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. The championship game is set for May 27 at 1 p.m. at the Linc. On Saturday, No. 1-seeded Syracuse will face unseeded Yale, and No. 3 Ohio State will meet unseeded Cornell at Maryland's Byrd Stadium. On Sunday, No. 4 Denver is set to play No. 5 North Carolina, and No. 2 Notre Dame will take on No. 7 Duke at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

After focusing on lacrosse the last three years, Pete Auteri approached La Salle skipper Joe Parisi last December about a possible switch to baseball. "I told him, 'What you're trying to do is difficult,' " Parisi said. "But I said, 'We're going to give you a shot.' He went out and earned it. " Wednesday afternoon, with Auteri producing a two-run single to right field in the sixth inning, the host Explorers turned back Father Judge, 6-4, in a Catholic League first-round playoff in Wyndmoor.

Brittany Read remembers Lauren Regan as the coach who turned her into a goalie in seventh grade. "She saw something in me, and if it wasn't for her I don't know if I would have ever done it," said Read, a junior who is set to play goalie in college for the University of Louisville. Many Eastern girls' lacrosse players can tell similar stories about Regan, who coached most of team's juniors and seniors in youth lacrosse before coaching them in high school. Stories like Read's were the driving force behind the team's trip to Regan's home before this season.

Tim Kemner is quick to talk about how much he loves lacrosse. It's a point that's easy to understand just by watching him play the game. The Kingsway senior looks as if he's having fun. He'll bounce shots, sneak around the net, cut through lanes, spin, dive, or rifle shots as strongly as any area player. Kemner is one of South Jersey's most creative goal scorers - and one of the area's few Division I recruits. He will play for Monmouth next season, a dream come true, to be sure.

Neumann fell to Farmingdale State, 7-2, on Wednesday in the first game of the NCAA Division III baseball regional in Auburn, N.Y. The fifth-seeded Knights (29-14) will face No. 8 Moravian (24-18) in a tournament elimination game Thursday morning. Moravian lost to top-seeded Ithaca, 11-2, on Wednesday. Buddy Elgin scored on a Rams error in the top of the sixth. In the eighth, Bill Pace (Cardinal O'Hara) doubled, Matt Sheneman singled, and Andrew Snow (Penncrest) drove in Pace with a pinch-hit single.