Greetings from New England on the eve of the NCAA Tournament Final Four. Although the semifinals will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., I'm staying in Providence, R.I., which is about 40 minutes south of Foxborough by car.

When No. 5 seed Johns Hopkins meets top-seeded Duke tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., two of the biggest match-ups will likely entail Blue Jays defensemen Michael Evans and Eric Zerrlaut on Matt Danowski and Zack Greer.

The performances of Evans, a junior from South River, and Zerrlaut, a senior from St. Mary's, against Danowski and Greer were instrumental in Johns Hopkins defeating the Blue Devils in last year's national championship game. Evans limited Danowski to a goal and an assist, while Zerrlaut handcuffed Greer to a lone assist.

"You just try to limit his touches," Evans said of his strategy against Danowski, the NCAA leader in career points. "With him, you've just got to try to get into his hands, but he's so good that he can free his hands up out of nowhere."

"He's a great player, and they're a great team," Zerrlaut said of Greer, who set the NCAA record for goals in a single season this spring. "It's more important to protect the scheme of our defense, but I think when you don't need to [slide], it's better to be tighter on him."

The Blue Jays will need a similar effort from Evans and Zerrlaut if they harbor any hope of a third national title in four years. In the regular-season meeting for both teams on April 5, Danowski registered a goal and six assists, while Greer posted six goals and an assist.

"I think a lot of people have identified mine and Michael's match-ups as one of the more important ones of the day," Zerrlaut said. "I just really hope that we play well."