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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. If defense wins championships, then Maryland might be in business. The No. 1 ranked women's team in the country, Maryland, looked lock solid on defense in an 18-9 victory over Northwestern on Thursday night to clinch the Big Ten regular season title for the third straight season. The Terps forced Northwestern into 17 turnovers and Megan Taylor made nine saves as the Terps moved to 17-0 entering next weekend's Big Ten tournament in College Park.

In the other Big Ten game on Thursday night, Johns Hopkins earned arguably its biggest victory of the season. The Blue Jays improved to 11-5 with a 17-9 victory over Rutgers that clinched a spot in the Big Ten tournament.

2. The ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship opened on Thursday in Richmond and the best was saved for last. Virginia rallied from a two-goal deficit late in the game to beat Louisville 13-12 in overtime on Kasey Behr's goal in the final game of the day. The Cavaliers advance to Friday's semifinal against Syracuse, which pulled away in the second half to beat Virginia Tech 20-13. The other semifinal will pit defending national champion North Carolina against Boston College. The Tar Heels routed Duke 18-6 as Carly Reed led 11 goal scorers with four, and Boston College beat Notre Dame for the second straight game, winning 17-14 behind five goals from Sam Apuzzo.

3. Delaware's Bob Shillinglaw completes his 39-year run in charge of the Blue Hens this weekend with a game at Fairfield. Patrick Stevens takes a look at Shillinglaw's remarkable run of helping to build the sport in the First State.

PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER

Bob Shillinglaw has won 310 games in his career at Delaware, but has also played a big role in helping to develop youth and high school lacrosse in the state.

4. Our May issue of US Lacrosse Magazine features spreads covering regions throughout the country and the Eastern Mid Atlantic story highlights some great work being done by the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation.

5. Growth is a great thing for lacrosse, but that can bring challenges. The expansion of the playing field for the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse Men's World Championship led to England withdraw its bid to host. The FIL announced that the event will move to Israel.

PHOTO BY SCOTT MCCALL

The FIL announced on Wednesday that the 2018 Men's World Championship is moving from England to Israel. The event grew from 29 teams in 2010 to 38 in 2014 and is expected to be as large as 48 teams in 2018.

WHAT WE’RE READING

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

We're excited to give you a sneak peak at our "Chasing Rings" series with the U.S. women's national team. The first video will drop next Thursday, but here's a trailer.

WHAT'S ON TAP

  • The ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship opens today at Duke and defending national champion North Carolina is playing for its playoff life. The Tar Heels need to beat Syracuse and then beat the winner of the Duke-Notre Dame game to finish the season at .500 or above to be eligible for the tournament. Both of today’s games will be live on ESPNews beginning at 6 pm.

  • The 115th playing of the Johns Hopkins-Maryland men’s lacrosse rivalry takes place on Saturday night in College Park live on the Big Ten Network. But earlier in the day, Ohio State can wrap up the No. 1 seed in the league with a victory over Rutgers.

  • Georgetown started the season 1-4, but the Hoyas could earn the Big East regular season title with an upset win at No. 3 Florida. The Hoyas have won five straight, including last week’s upset over nationally-ranked Denver.