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

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

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Garrett Bolles was the first round pick of the Denver Broncos at the NFL Draft last night. He had a troubled background and was kicked out of his own house by his father, but his lacrosse coach took him in and helped turned him around.

• The post-game tailgates in lacrosse are legendary, and an important part of the culture and success for the nation’s No. 1 women’s program at the University of Maryland.

• You have to admire the effort of the Manatee (Fla.) Lacrosse Boosters Club. The group is trying to bring varsity and junior varsity boys and girls lacrosse teams to the school with a goal of raising $70,000 to make the teams a reality.

• Katherine Gjertsen, a Stanford recruit and our Epoch/US Lacrosse Midwest Player of the Week earlier this month, never considered playing just lacrosse.

• It’s championship time for high schools in Florida and the Benjamin HS boys team’s big senior class is looking for its first state title.

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 115^th 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.