Introducing Maryland's Lone 2010 NCAA Championship Hope, Women's Lacrosse

Maryland hasn't seriously competed for a national championship in the revenue sports since 2002, when Gary Williams and Maryland basketball won the NCAA Championship. But they've always had a heavy presence in non-revenue sports, continually competing in men's lacrosse (though never winning) and men's soccer and dominating in field hockey. Those three sports, sadly, let the Terps down this year, meaning this year could be championship-less*. After winning two natties last year, that would be a bit of a shock and plenty of a disappointment.

Unless, of course, women's lacrosse reclaims its lost dynasty. Y'see, Maryland used to be the team for women's lacrosse. And it wasn't too long ago; they won seven straight titles between the years of 1995 and 2001. They cleaned up daily. But their spell of domination ended after that year, and they haven't been able to recapture a title since.

The dynasty of women's lacrosse is now Northwestern. The Wildcats have taken home five straight titles, and are poised to perhaps eclipse Maryland's earlier run of domination. It's rather fitting, then, that it's the Terps and the Wildcats that meet tomorrow in the NCAA Championship.

Is it hard to get excited about women's lacrosse? Maybe. But it's not hard to get excited (or at least happy) about Maryland winning championships, and that's what this team is poised to do. And quite frankly, if any women's lacrosse game was going to get you excited, it would be this one.

#1 vs. #2. The old dynasty vs. the reigning power. Former teammates on the most dominant team in the history of the sport face each other as coaches (both Maryland's HC and Northwestern's were on Maryland's title teams of the late '90s that never lost a game). The two most storied programs in the sport face off for the first time to claim dominance. Maryland takes on the most difficult opponent possible to win their only championship for the year.

Okay, it's still women's lacrosse, so you're excused if you're still not excited. But if you are, nobody's blaming you.

If you want to catch it, it'll be at Towson University tomorrow at 5:30. For those of you outside of Baltimore who still want to watch, it'll be on at the same time on CBS College Sports Network.

*Com. cheer doesn't count. Too many variations (namely, all-girl [ie, Maryland] compared to co-ed) for me to consider it a true national title.