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

1. Close, but no cigar.

A Northwestern team with some quality wins, but hovering around the .500 mark needed to qualify for the NCAA tournament jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, but fell to No. 6 Penn State 14-13 on Thursday night at home. It was the Wildcats third one-goal loss of the season and dropped them to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in the league.

Penn State used a 10-1 run that bridged the two halves to take a 12-8 lead, but Northwestern got off the canvas with four straight goals to tie the game 12-12 with 22 minutes still remaining. Katie O'Donnell scored her fourth and fifth goals of the night to put Penn State in front 14-12 and then Cat Rainone made a late save for the Nittany Lions (14-1, 4-0 Big Ten) to preserve the win. Northwestern has to regroup quickly with Duke coming to town on Saturday.

• In the other Big Ten game on Thursday night, Rutgers survived a record-breaking night from Michigan's Kim Coughlan to pick up a 16-14 victory at Michigan Stadium. Coughlan scored a Michigan record eight goals, but an 11-goal first half propelled the Scarlet Knights who improved to 8-6 and 2-2 in the league.

  H2: Coughlan is on FIRE! Two more goals makes it EIGHT tonight and brings U-M within two, 15-13. 9:10 to go!!! https://t.co/iSlTIACvoL

  — Michigan Lacrosse (@UMichWLAX) April 14, 2017

• In women's Division III, Catholic bounced back from Sunday's eight-goal loss to Mary Washington by posting an 8-7 overtime victory against No. 11 Franklin & Marshall. Jessica Lyons second goal of the game was the winner for the Cardinals.

2. Trevor Baptiste's secret recipe?

The secret to Trevor Baptiste’s success isn’t so secret. It’s hard work. Hall of Fame coach Bill Tierney sang Baptiste’s praises in Gary Lambrecht's weekly notebook, and all-world faceoff specialist Greg Gurenlian did the same in an interview with Lax Sports Network.

Trevor Baptiste had a career day against Villanova! @Faceoff_Academy founder @GregBeast32 breaks down what makes the #KingTuna special! pic.twitter.com/0DPyZtUm1A

— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) April 11, 2017

3. Women's programs coming to Wisconsin-River Falls and Plattsburgh State

Two NCAA Division III schools announced the formation of new women's lacrosse programs that will begin play in 2019. Wisconsin-River Falls becomes the first public school in its local area to add the sport and Plattsburgh State's new program will compliment the existing men's program.

4. Defense wins championships

Saskatchewan has won the last two NLL championships and is in contention for a third straight. Neil Stevens pays tribute to the defensemen that are keying the season for the Rush.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• The single best way to improve individual stick skills is a wall. And if you’re really dedicated, a rock can serve as that wall. Just ask Justin Lane, a high school player from Montana.

• Ithaca’s Ally Runyon overcame to a torn ACL to become Ithaca’s all-time leading scorer.

• Another player who dealt with an ACL setback, Hobey Jiranek, saw his college career at the University of the South (Sewanee) come to end, but not his involvement with the sport.

• Morgan Berman, a high school goalie from Georgia, is headed to Virginia Tech to play lacrosse. She might have her older brothers to thank for pushing her to get better.

• JP Morris, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound midfielder, has signed with Mount Saint Mary’s, the first Oklahoma player to sign a Division I National Letter of Intent.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Lax Sports Network does an outstanding job of scanning the lacrosse world for great video. Their bloopers segment this week featured this absolute gem from Marquette's Keenan Moffitt:

WEEKLY BLOOPERS: @MarquetteMLax Keenan Moffitt left hanging by his teammates during the Notre Dame game on Tuesday! pic.twitter.com/IH4lEocy1e

— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) April 13, 2017

WHAT’S ON TAP

• No. 5 Colorado (12-1, 4-0) and  No. 10 USC (11-3, 5-0) go head-to-head at the LA Coliseum tonight for first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

• Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw announced before the season that he would retire at year's end. The Blue Hens host No. 13 Towson in Shillinglaw's final home game on Saturday night.

• Brown has been under the radar after last year's final four run, but the Bears and reigning Tewaaraton winner Dylan Molloy can make some noise when they play at Ivy League-leading Yale at noon on Saturday on ESPNU. Other big men's games include Army-Navy on CBS Sports Network and Johns Hopkins-Penn State on ESPNU. Visit the Warrior TV/Streaming page for more games this weekend.

“Dialed In” is posted daily Monday-Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern on uslaxmagazine.com.