While junior defenseman Patrick Foley is regarded as the top defender for the No. 4 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team, sophomore defenseman Jack Rapine is tied for second among the Blue Jays (8-2, 2-0 Big Ten) in ground balls (22) and caused turnovers (seven).

Rapine has shed 14 pounds since the fall to regain the quickness he demonstrated as a freshman when he finished with 29 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers in 15 starts. Rapine has also improved his mental grasp of his role.

Flying under the radar is not a negative, according to coach Dave Pietramala.

“I think he’s had a good year, a solid year,” Pietramala said of Rapine. “I think sometimes when someone is not very visible, people say, ‘Oh, he’s not playing well. He’s not knocking the ball to the ground a lot and taking the ball away.’ For us, that’s not a bad thing. If you’re not noticing a defenseman, it probably means you’re not noticing his offensive player.”

No fuss about No. 1:Maryland returned to the top of the Inside Lacrosse media poll Monday for the first time since ending last season with the NCAA championship and the No. 1 ranking. But that matters little to the Terps, who host No. 8 Rutgers on Sunday at 7 p.m.

“We’ve got more games to play,” senior midfielder Tim Rotanz said. “It’s not really about having the ranking. It’s about proving you deserve it and playing that way in each and every game. We’ve just got to play our best game against Rutgers.”

Towson women on brink of four 100-goal scorers: Three Towson players have reached 100 career goals this season and one more could hit the milestone any day.

Junior Carly Tellekamp scored her 100th career goal Friday at Drexel, joining seniors Emily Gillingham and Kaitlyn Montalbano, who scored theirs earlier in the season. Junior Natalie Sulmonte scored her 99th goal in the No. 6 Tigers’ win over Delaware on Sunday and could hit 100 on Friday at Elon.

Montalbano, with 119 goals, and Gillingham, with 114, now rank eighth and ninth on the Tigers’ all-time goal-scoring list. Tellekamp, with 103, needs just three to move into 10th. The Towson record is 208.

Terps women pick up transfer: The Maryland’s women’s lacrosse team picked up a major transfer for next season in former Canisius midfielder Erica Evans, one of 25 Tewaaraton Award semifinalists a year ago.

Evans, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the fall, had 186 goals and 60 assists in three seasons at Canisius, where she was a three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Midfielder of the Year.

She announced her plans to transfer Wednesday on Instagram: “I’m excited to announce that I will be finishing my college lacrosse career and college career at the University of Maryland next year! This is such an amazing opportunity and I am so thankful!”

The No. 3 Terps can use her scoring punch next spring after graduating attacker Megan Whittle (McDonogh), who has led them in scoring all four years and needs one goal to break the school’s all-time goal-scoring record.

Evans is also a veteran of Canada’s national team and was named to the All-World team at last summer’s World Cup, where Canada won the silver medal.

“Evans is hands down one of the most exciting players to watch and stole the show at the World Cup over the summer. Short list @Tewaaraton front runner in 2019,” Inside Lacrosse women’s editor Halley Quillinan Griggs said on Twitter.

Navy in standby mode for Daniel: Freshman attackman Christian Daniel suffered a pulled right hamstring late in the No. 17 Midshipmen’s 12-10 win against Colgate on Saturday. Coach Rick Sowell said Daniel, who leads the team in points (29) and is tied for first in goals (19), is a question mark for Saturday’s game at Army West Point.

“We’ll see how the week unfolds,” Sowell said. “The good news is that it’s not bad. What does that mean? Is that a week? Two weeks? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Must-win for Mount St. Mary’s: After Saturday’s 14-9 loss at No. 11 Bucknell, the Mountaineers can turn their attention to the race for one of four berths in the Northeast Conference tournament. With an 0-3 league record, coach Tom Gravante knows his team has to get a win against Hobart (4-7, 1-2) on Saturday to remain in the hunt.

“Every game is really a must-win, but moving forward with three left and three very good opponents that are in the mix for one of the four seeds, this gives us the opportunity to collect head-to-head wins over them,” he said. “From here on out, to keep our hopes alive, every game is a must-win starting this Saturday with Hobart.”

First start for Towson’s Livingston: With senior defenseman Sid Ewell still serving a suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules, the Tigers gave senior defenseman Calvin Livingston his first start of the season in Saturday’s 17-9 rout of Drexel. The presence of the Reisterstown resident and McDonogh graduate allowed freshman Koby Smith (Loyola Blakefield) to return to his natural position as long-stick midfielder.

edward.lee@baltsun.com

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Baltimore Sun reporter Katherine Dunn contributed to this article.