Second chances offered in Patriot

Navy had its way in its first season in the Patriot League.

Coach Richie Meade figures the league tournament, which begins today in Annapolis when the second-ranked Midshipmen (10-2) meet Colgate (8-6), won’t be so easy.

“Teams will play differently,” said Meade, whose team whipped Colgate 21-6 last month. “We had our way with Colgate in the regular season, and they played poorly. I don’t think they’ll do that again. Everything went our way, and they’d had an emotional game with Fairfield [three days earlier]. They came into the game, and we were all over them early. That’s not how they typically played.”

Should the Mids reach Sunday’s final, they would play either No.19 Hobart (7-5) or Bucknell (6-7). Navy led Bucknell 5-4 in the third quarter March 13 before securing an 11-5 victory. Three days later, the Mids overcame a slow start to defeat Hobart 13-8.

“It’s obviously a challenge, and clearly the Naval Academy is playing at the top of their game,” Bucknell coach Sid Jamieson said. “I look at what Hobart did, and it was a good game. I look at our game, and I think it was a pretty good game. We didn’t have all the pieces in place yet. It’ll be fun.”

A suckers’ bet

It isn’t smart to bet against Maryland — just ask the Terrapins’ coaching staff.

After the Terps won the ACC tournament, coach Dave Cottle fulfilled a promise to have his head shaved if the team won its first conference title since 1998. Goalie Tim McGinnis did the honors and produced an interesting new appearance for Cottle, who reluctantly doffed his hat when reporters asked for a look yesterday.

“I’m going to start calling him Cue Ball,” attackman Joe Walters said.

Last month, freshman midfielder Jay Feeley gave assistant coach Dave Slafkosky a mohawk after Slafkosky promised to don a new look if Maryland defeated North Carolina. The Terps eked out a 10-9 victory over the Tar Heels, and Cottle quickly said he wouldn’t make a similar wager anytime soon.

So what caused the change of hair, er, heart?

“When you’re ugly, it really doesn’t matter,” Cottle said.

Irish’s opportunity

No. 12 Notre Dame’s game tomorrow at No. 3 Maryland provides the Fighting Irish with something its fellow NCAA tournament bubble teams would love to have — the chance to score an impressive victory late in the season and all but clinch a postseason berth.

The Fighting Irish (7-4) have won five in a row but lost the Great Western Lacrosse League’s automatic bid to No. 6 Ohio State. Notre Dame’s best wins are against Dartmouth and Denver, but with a dearth of teams possessing quality victories this year, the Fighting Irish could stay in the postseason hunt even if they don’t win their regular-season finale against the Terps (10-2).

“We don’t feel this is absolutely do-or-die,” said Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan, whose team hasn’t played since a 16-7 rout of Fairfield on April 18. “When you go into the tournament, you want to go in with the idea you’re going to win it. You want to go in on a roll and feel good about yourself. It’s a tremendous opportunity right before the tournament starts.

“But a win puts us in without question.”

Injury added to insult

As if it wasn’t bad enough Virginia was eliminated from postseason contention Sunday, the Cavaliers also lost two of their top freshmen for the team’s season finale to torn knee ligaments.

MRIs taken this week found long stick midfielder Ricky Smith and midfielder Drew Thompson with torn ACLs. The pair will have surgery in the next few weeks and will miss the Cavaliers’ May 8 game at Penn State.

Groundball guys

Georgetown’s Andy Corno and Maryland’s Paul Gillette continued their climbs up their respective schools’ all-time groundballs lists this week.

Corno scooped up seven groundballs in Georgetown’s defeat of Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday and has 229 for his career, tied with Kyle Sweeney for the most in Hoyas history. The junior likely will pass Sweeney tomorrow when Georgetown visits Rutgers.

Gillette snared 16 groundballs last weekend to earn a spot on the ACC’s all-tournament team. The senior now has 208 career groundballs, fifth in school history, and is the first Terrapin to reach the 200-groundball plateau since Brian Haggerty (1996-99).