The leaves are on the trees. They've been practicing since early January. What happens now matters most. Your team goals remain unfulfilled. Your season's defining moment lies ahead. I'm looking forward to key matchups this weekend. So much is at stake.

Nearly flawless … but boring
Maryland and Hopkins have played each other 102 times. Saturday we witnessed the best individual performance of the series. No offense to former Terp goalie Brian Dougherty, but Joe Walters' show on Homewood Field was one for the ages.

"This is special. Seniors haven't won against Hopkins in four years," said Walters. "It was a special night. The sellout crowd. We showed heart. We had a lot of Maryland grads here watching. We wanted to show them how hard we've been working."

The Terps played flawlessly with the ball.

"Our goal was to control the ball," said Walters. "We did a good job doing that. Every time down we wanted to spin it around -- get a good possession. A couple of times we had four-or five-minute possessions."

Maryland played a clean first quarter; holding the ball silenced the fans. "We've been playing from behind the last couple of games and playing with such a frenzy trying to catch up," said Terps coach Dave Cottle. "To get a lead really settled us down some. We only had three turnovers in the first half. We were efficient and Joe shot the ball well."

The Terps held the ball for 19:38 in the first half and 42:32 for the game. The audience of nearly 10,000 fans booed as Maryland sat behind the goal and waited for Hopkins to step out and play defense. Maryland continually was given the stalling warning, and Hopkins was content to let the Terps eat the clock, even with a four, five and six goal lead.

The Blue Jays' man-to-man defense resembled a zone. They lack perimeter presence. When opponents get a lead, they are powerless to change the tempo.

The Terps parlayed a 2-0 lead into a 5-1 advantage thanks to three failed clears by the Blue Jays. Maryland dropped deep into their ride and put a midfielder down low on a Hopkins attackman. The Terps rotated a second longpole into the middle third of the field. Hopkins threw the ball to the center of the field and that player was ambushed. I've never seen a case where three clearing mistakes cost a team so harshly.

Walters did the rest. The senior from Irondequoit, N.Y., finished with six goals and two assists. Scary to think that he could have scored eight goals -- he hit two pipes. "Joe's as gifted as any player I've coached," said Cottle. "He's been focusing on making the little plays and the big plays will follow. I'm thrilled for him: He deserves it; he's worked hard at his craft."

Save Joe Walters a seat at the Tewaaraton Banquet in Washington D.C. on June 1.

The Terps, meanwhile, have aspirations to make a return trip to Philadelphia for the national championship in May.

"Last year we were 5-5 at this spot," said Cottle. "We didn't want to be there again. We talked all week that all of our goals are still in front of us. We're headed in the right direction but still have a lot of work to do."

ECAC comes down the stretch
Georgetown saw its eight-game win streak end this past weekend when it was upset by Loyola, 14-10, in Baltimore. The Hoyas' only other loss was a season-opening 10-4 defeat at Maryland on Feb. 25. Expect the Hoyas to be on edge when UMass visits on Saturday.

With the 8-2 start this season, UMass is now 65-21 over the last six seasons for a 75.6 percent win percentage, which is second only to Johns Hopkins, which has won 82.9 percent of its games with a 68-14 record. Georgetown is third on the list at 75 percent (63-21). UMass has a better record in the last six years than national powers Maryland (73.9, 65-23), Syracuse (73.9, 65-23) and Princeton (70.7, 58-24). But the Minutemen's schedule is currently ranked 23rd in the nation by Jeff Sagarin (Syracuse, Princeton and Maryland are 1, 3 and 4, respectively).

UMass at Georgetown can be seen live on WMAR in Baltimore and nationally on ESPNU (1 ET). It's an opportunity for Sean Morris to shine on the big stage. A 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, Morris leads the nation in scoring per game (4.5 points) on 16 goals and a national-best 29 assists totaling 45 points (third-best in the nation). Morris has had a hand in 38 percent of the Minutemen's goals this season, scoring or assisting in 45 of UMass' 120 goals.

Honoring a D-mid
Interesting to see the Tewaaraton committee recognizing the play of Towson's Casey Cittadino. Good call. Cittadino is a short stick defender, a guy that you notice when you watch Towson play. He's got a bright future in Major League Lacrosse -- expect him to be selected in the top 10 on May 31. He's out of the same mold as Jarret Park and Benson Irwin. Cittadino, from Baldwin on Long Island, has caused 16 turnovers and has gobbled up 20 ground balls. The Tigers have won five of their last six games.

Ivy League showdown
Cornell at Princeton this weekend. Time for the Big Red's Joe Boulukos to prove he's the best player in the Ivy League. Boulokos has 19 goals on 91 shots (.209) and will be covered by Princeton's LSM John Bennett.

Two of the nation's top five goalies go head to head. Princeton's Alex Hewit has burst onto the scene this year, posting a 65 percent mark between the pipes, while Cornell's Matt McMonagle is saving 63 percent of the shots on goal. The Big Red might be vulnerable at the face-off X -- winning 43 percent of their draws, but Princeton has only captured 47 percent.

Hitting their groove
Joe Alberici has done a fine job in his first year at West Point. How fortunate was he to get out of Durham when he did? The Army-Navy game was everything you hope for in a college lacrosse game: A record crowd, a gorgeous day on the banks of the Hudson, pageantry, intensity and some very exciting lacrosse.

It had end-to-end transition goals, a couple of isolation goals, nifty pass plays, hits, ground ball scraps and saves. The quality of the product from a fan's perspective was light years more exciting than the Maryland-Hopkins' snooze-fest. The difference was Navy's Matt Russell, who made 11 stops.

The victory was Navy's 10th in a row over Army, establishing a record in a series dating back to 1924. Navy won nine in a row from 1973-80, including a 1978 NCAA tourney matchup. Army has played five one-goal games this spring and will need to win the Patriot League tournament to make the NCAAs.

Stick Check
Watched a high school game on Tuesday afternoon: Late in the contest, 12 seconds to go, the team trailing asked for a stick check. Player gives his crosse to the refs, they scrutinize it -- the crowd becomes silent -- the stick in question passes the test. Crowd erupts, they go berserk. Player celebrates like he has just scored a goal. Great theater. Good sport?

Tourney time
Next week we'll take a closer look at some conferences that offer automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. We'll bring you up to date with what's going on in the MAAC, Patriot, Colonial and America East conferences.

If the NCAA Tournament selections were today, here's who I would include: Virginia, Maryland, Navy, Hofstra, Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Towson, Loyola, UMass, Georgetown, Penn State, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, (either Denver, Ohio State or Air Force), Canisius out of the MAAC and the winner of Stony Brook-UMBC.

That leaves out Colgate and Delaware, which will have to win another big game in the league tournaments. Uh oh. That's 17 teams. Somebody's not going to make it.

Lacrosse on ESPNU:Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, Massachusetts at Georgetown. Also be sure to check out "Toyota Lacrosse Weekly" on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

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