City will host AAU Junior Olympics
Scott reveals Games coming to Baltimore in 2028, ’32
Mayor Brandon Scott announced Friday that Baltimore City will host the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games in 2028 and 2032.
Scott made the announcement at a news conference at Morgan State University, and was joined by AAU president and CEO Jennings “Rusty” Buchanan, Visit Baltimore president and CEO Al Hutchinson and Sport & Entertainment Corporation of Maryland president Terry Hasseltine. The mayor said the 11-day event will give the city an opportunity to “show what it has to offer to the world.”
Buchanan said most of the events will take place at the downtown Baltimore
Convention Center, while the track and field competitions will be held at Morgan State. Hasseltine said other sites throughout the city will be used depending on the sport.
According to Hasseltine, the AAU Junior Olympics will have upward of $59 million in economic impact.
“After the great success that we’ve had
“When you look at all of our scoring, 14 of our 16 goals were sophomores [by eligibility] or younger. So when it got a little tight, I thought we were a little hesitant. We struggled clearing the ball towards the end of the game. We sort of got caught back on our heels instead of forward on our toes.”
junior attacker Hannah Leubecker lost the ball on a spin move to the middle of the net, and Boston College capitalized with the eventual game-winning goal.
On Maryland’s roster, only graduate student midfielder Grace Griffin, a Sykesville resident and Liberty graduate, and graduate student defender Torie Barretta had ever played at this stage of the season. The Terps won their 15th national title in 2019, but the 2020 season was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic and Maryland was eliminated in the second round by Duke in 2021.
“Maybe a little bit,” coach Cathy Reese said when asked if the pressure of the moment contributed to Maryland’s uncharacteristic errors in the final minutes. “There were some crazy things with it, but there were some moments when a little inexperience showed a little bit. I said that from the start. We have a really young team. When you look at all of our scoring, 14 of our 16 goals were sophomores [by eligibility] or younger. So when it got a little tight, I thought we were a little hesitant. We struggled clearing the ball towards the end of the game. We sort of got caught back on our heels instead of forward on our toes.”
The Terps committed 17 turnovers to the Eagles’ nine, including five each in the third and fourth quarters. A pair of graduate students, Cordingley and midfielder Grace Griffin (Liberty), committed a gamehigh three turnovers each, but Leubecker declined to assign any blame.
“We would like a couple of those back, but that’s on everyone,” she said. “That’s not on one person.”
Junior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn noted that Boston College began to apply the heat when it needed to mount a comeback in that fourth quarter.
“I think BC does a good job of pressuring, and it’s all over the field,” said the Woodbine resident and Glenelg Country graduate, who finished with a game-high nine draw controls and one goal. “It was another team we were prepared for. I think in the heat of the moment, a few didn’t go our way, and I thought they did a good job of coming out and pressuring us on our hands and making us do something different than we normally would.”
Leubecker, a Forest Hill resident, led the Terps with five goals. Junior attacker Libby May, a Sparks resident and Hereford graduate, racked up three goals and two assists, and freshman midfielder Jordyn Lipkin added two goals and two assists. Junior goalkeeper Emily Sterling, a Bel Air resident and John Carroll graduate, made a game-high eight saves, but none in the fourth quarter.
No. 1 seed North Carolina 15, No. 4 seed Northwestern 14: The Tar Heels were rescued by a player in her first season with the program.
Graduate student attacker Sam Geiersbach, who transferred from Richmond this offseason, scored all five of her goals in a 4:24 span to fuel a game-ending 8-0 run that helped North Carolina (21-0) end a three-game losing skid in the Final Four before an announced 7,694 and take aim at what would be the program’s third national championship.
Geiersbach’s heroics — which included two assists for a game-high seven points — helped the Tar Heels rally from a 13-5 deficit with 32.3 seconds left in the third quarter. Fifth-year senior attacker Jamie Ortega added three goals and three assists, and graduate student midfielder Ally Mastroianni scored three times.
“I came to UNC because I knew they would get here,” said Geiersbach, who has amassed 34 goals and 27 assists in 20 games, mostly as a reserve. “So my plan coming here was based on the fact that UNC is an awesome school. These girls are the best girls I’ve ever met. And I knew that this was going to be their year, and I just wanted a piece of it — whether I was on the field or
— Cathy Reese, Maryland women’s lacrosse coach
not.”
The final score was North Carolina’s first lead of the game and was preserved by Taylor Moreno. The graduate student goalkeeper made her fifth save of the game by stoning Wildcats graduate student attacker Lauren Gilbert on a breakaway with 28 seconds left in regulation, and Moreno redeemed a performance that included getting pulled for 7:47 in the third quarter in favor of freshman Alecia Nichols.
Gilbert paced Northwestern (16-5) with five goals and one assist, graduate student midfielder Jill Girardi amassed three goals, six draw controls and two ground balls, and senior goalie Madison Doucette stopped a game-high nine shots.
But the Wildcats lost for the fifth consecutive time in the semifinals since capturing their eighth title in 2012.