Who can stop McDonogh?

By the looks of McDonogh's finishing kick in its 9-6 win over John Carroll Monday, the No. 2 Eagles will be tough to contend with in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference tournament.

The Eagles broke out of a 4-4 halftime tie with a 5-1 run that sealed the victory and the top-seeded spot for next week's tournament.

After losing in the tournament final last season, 10-7 to St. Paul's, the Eagles have rebuilt into a finely balanced squad that has no star players but is fast, skilled and relentless all over the field.

How do you defend against that?

"That's a great question. I'm going to have watch game film to figure that one out," said John Carroll coach Krystin Porcella, with a laugh after Monday's game.

"Really, they're just very good at what they do," explained Porcella. "They attack hard and they fire their shots early. They don't really allow you to close in the double teams or finish your slides. They turn and they fire. Everything they do, they go hard. Whether it's going after a ground ball,
whether it's going after a draw -- they are going through it if they have to and that's very hard to defend."

That has given coach Chris Robinson's team a sweep of A Conference competition this season as well as a 17-1 overall record with nine wins over ranked teams. The Eagles' only loss was to St. Stephen's/St. Agnes, 4-2, a month ago.

McDonogh is the favorite in the tournament, but who is the darkhorse? Don't count out the defending champs.

St. Paul's has been through an up-and-down rebuilding season at 9-7, but the No. 12 Gators have won six straight, including a 9-8 win Saturday at Moorestown, N.J.

While the Gators have some bad losses this season, they also have some impressive efforts. They beat St. Stephens/St Agnes, 10-9, and pushed No. 1 Mount Hebron before falling, 7-6. They only lost to McDonogh by one, 10-9, the closest any A Conference team came to the Eagles this season.

With about seven teams capable of taking the title, next week's tournament is likely to be as unpredictable as the regular season.

Tough break

Nothing could keep Bryn Mawr senior Jordy Kirr away from Thursday's Roland Park game -- not even an operation to repair her broken right collarbone.

After undergoing surgery that morning to repair the break with a plate and several screws, Kirr stood on the sideline, supporting her teammates through a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in the 75th anniversary of the two girls schools' lacrosse rivalry.

Kirr, who is headed to Georgetown next year, suffered the break in an awkward fall in the April 24th game against Mount de Sales.

"With 19 seconds left in the first half, I was fighting for the out-of-bounds ball and I fell right on my collarbone," said Kirr, who was sore and a tad groggy Thursday afternoon but couldn't stay away.

The injury could not have come at a worse time for the senior attacker with the No. 5 Mawrtians heading into the A Conference tournament next week.

She said she should be able to play again in four to six weeks, which could be just enough time.

A member of the national Under-19 training team, Kirr is determined to be on the field in Lehigh, Pa., Memorial Day weekend when the 24 girls on the training squad play for 18 final spots on the team that will represent the U.S. in the Under-19 world championships in August in Ontario, Canada.

Looking for Division I's best

Seven women with ties to the Baltimore area are on the whittled-down list of nominees for the 2007 Tewaaraton Trophy, as the best player in women's Division I lacrosse.

Maryland's Kelly Kasper (Century) and Dana Dobbie, Johns Hopkins' Mary Key (St. Mary's), Duke's Kristen Waagbo (Mount Hebron), Georgetown's Coco Stanwick (Notre Dame Prep), James Madison's Kelly Berger (Hammond) and North Carolina's Amber Falcone (Winters Mill) are among the 17 nominees.

The list, which also includes 2006 winner Kristen Kjellman, from two-time defending national champion Northwestern, will be trimmed to five with the winner announced on May 30.

Where's the concession stand?

Ever think about food when you're at a game?

A few weeks ago at the High School Lacrosse Showdown at Johns Hopkins Homewood Field, 11-year-old Sloane Coffin said watching the Roland Park girls play made her hungry. You'd never guess why. From her vantage point in the press box, Sloane thought the Reds' home jerseys looked like bags of Utz potato chips -- white in the middle with dark lettering and red down the sides.

No word on whether Sloane's father, Towson Times sports editor Nelson Coffin, stopped on the way home to buy a bag of chips for Sloane and her sister Quinn, 8.