The Trojan Curse lives, and Rick Boeckler is a champion again.

The Maryland Terrapins pulled off the second-biggest comeback in the history of the women’s NCAA championship Tuesday night, lifting Maryland resident Rick Boeckler to his second Living Room Times women’s pool championship in four years — and making Victoria Lopez of New Jersey, a former USC student, the third Trojan to lose a Times pool after heading into the national title game with a chance to win.

Boeckler, who won the 2003 women’s pool, is the fourth contestant in 10 years and 20 pools to win twice, joining Jenn Castelhano (2001 men’s pool, 2002 women’s pool), Todd Stigliano (2001 and 2005 women’s pools) and Matt Kagan (2004 men’s and women’s pools). Boeckler is Becky Loy’s uncle.

In both of his wins, Boeckler clinched the pool on a Duke loss; in 2003, it was Tennessee’s Final Four victory over the Blue Devils that assured him of the championship. But this victory has to be even sweeter, as Boeckler is a Maryland fan and a resident of Silver Spring, MD, just a few miles away from College Park. Boeckler actually picked Maryland to lose to North Carolina in the Final Four, and had UNC going all the way, but the Terps’ win over Duke prevented Lopez, who picked the Blue Devils, from overtaking him in the standings. As a result, a Maryland win gave a Maryland resident the pool championship.

On the flip side, Duke’s loss extends a string of Trojan futility in Times pools that grows more remarkable by the year. No USC-affiliated contestant has ever won a Living Room Times pool, men’s or women’s, starting with pool administrator Brendan Loy’s freshman year in 2000. That’s thirteen straight losses for the land of Troy, even though a substantial contingent of Trojans enters the pool every year. (2003 USC grad Tom K. won the NIT pool last year, but that is a BrendanLoy.com pool, not a Living Room Times pool. The Times pools are the ones that date back to when I was in high school.)

Lopez’s loss was reminiscent of the dramatic 2001 women’s pool that first suggested the existence of a “Trojan Curse.” In that year’s title game, Mike Wiser, then a USC sophomore, would have won the pool if Purdue had held onto a six-point halftime lead over Notre Dame — but the Irish rallied, and Providence College sophomore Todd Stigliano, a member of the Newington High School Class of 1999, won instead. At the time, NHS ‘99ers had not lost a Times pool since 1996, and Purdue’s collapse kept that streak intact.

The NHS ‘99 streak ended in 2003, but the inability of Trojans to win Times pools, despite numerous attempts, has remained a running theme. Last year, 2002 USC grad Andrew Long would have won the men’s pool if Illinois had beaten North Carolina in the title game. This year, Long again had an outstanding men’s bracket, but was easily eclipsed by the virtuoso performance of Notre Dame law student and UCLA alumnus Mike Tran.

Now Lopez is the latest Trojan to fall just short of a victory, in even more dramatic fashion than Wiser or Long. She seemed virtually certain to break the Trojan Curse — and her own personal Brendan Loy contest curse, having lost the 2005 and 2006 Oscar pools after heading into the final award with a chance to win — as Maryland was totally outplayed in the first half, trailing by 13 at one point and by 10 at halftime. The Terrapins rallied in the second half and briefly took the lead, but were down by 3 with less than 10 seconds left — until Kristy Tolliver’s three-pointer sent the game to overtime, where Maryland won by 3, giving Boeckler the title and sending Lopez down to another disappointing defeat.

Lopez, who lived in the same dorm as Brendan and Becky Loy during their freshman year at USC, also failed to become the first woman to win a Living Room Times pool since Jenn Castelhano captured the 2001 men’s and 2002 women’s titles. In addition, Liz Acey won the 1997 men’s pool, but all the other winners have been men.

Lopez actually finished third in the pool, behind Boeckler and Sean Sullivan of Boston, MA, an Amherst College grad who was eliminated in the Elite Eight from any chance of winning because his bracket was so similar to Boeckler’s. Boeckler finished with 370 points out of a possible 477, getting 82.5% of the tournament’s games right. Sullivan had 365 points. Lopez wound up with 363 points, one second-round game off Boeckler’s total. (The pool is scored on a 5-7-10-15-20-25 basis.)

Dan Dinunzio of Connecticut finished fourth with 359. Soren Hammerschmidt of Santa Barbara, CA — Brendan and Becky’s brother-in-law, and Boeckler’s nephew by marriage — finished fifth with 353 points. By finishing first and fifth, respectively, Boeckler and Hammerschmidt are the top family duo in Times history. But it wasn’t the best-case scenario for Hammerschmidt; he would have finished second (and Boeckler fifth) if Duke had won.

Andrew Kreutz, a high-school senior from Marysville, WA, finished sixth with 352 points, making him the only contestant to finish in the Top 10 of both the men’s and women’s pools this year. (He tied for 10th in the men’s.) BrendanLoy.com NIT pool runner-up Gary Kirby (a.k.a. “gahrie”), a 1987 USC grad from San Bernardino, CA, finished seventh with 351 points.

Rounding out the Top Ten were Florida State meteorology student and weather blogger Charles Fenwick with 349 points, Carol LaPlante of Cheektowaga, NY (mother of Becky & Brendan bridesmaid Kristy LaPlante) with 344, and Notre Dame Law School 2L Chris Pearsall with 343. Todd Stigliano, the only other two-time women’s pool champion aside from Boeckler, finished eleventh with 337.

The only contestants to correctly predict a Maryland championship were Chris “Doc” Evans, a 1991 USC grad currently living in Shenzhen, China; Josh Rubin, an NHS ‘99er and Maryland alum; and IUP grad Brandon Minich of Gaithersburg, MD. They finished 11th (tied with Stigliano), 13th and 15th, respectively.

Complete standings here and after the jump.

P.S. And a hearty “thank you” to everyone who competed in this year’s pools. It was fun, wasn’t it? See you next year… same time, same place! :)

1. Rick Boeckler 370
2. Sean Sullivan 365
3. Victoria Lopez 363
4. Dan Dinunzio 359
5. Soren Hammerschmidt 353
6. Andrew Kreutz 352
7. Gary Kirby 351
8. Charles Fenwick 349
9. Carol LaPlante 344
10. Chris Pearsall 343
11. Todd Stigliano 337
11. Chris Evans 337
13. Josh Rubin 333
13. A.J. St. John 333
15. Brandon Minich 330
16. Ginny Zak 329
17. Ted Zak 328
17. Jay Johnson 328
19. Gerry deSimas, Jr. 326
20. Jackie Wilson, II 321
21. Don LaPlante 319
22. Randy Styles 318
23. Carolyn Blessing 317
24. Nathan Evangelista 315
25. Clayton Bassett 312
25. Elizabeth Janelle 312
27. Tristin Clow 311
28. Scott Loomer 307
29. Kelleigh L. Domaingue 306
29. Derek Walden 306
31. Scott Fort 304
31. Kim Stone 304
33. Jamie McGinnis 301
34. Conor Sullivan 300
35. Brian Paine 298
35. Andy Wendeln 298
37. Paul Zak 297
38. Colleen Duggan 294
39. Matt Kagan 291
39. Brian Dupuis 291
39. Rebecca Loy 291
42. Terry Jones 290
43. Kevin Hauschulz 289
43. Greg Kagan 289
45. Lisa Velte 286
46. Hannah McLaughlin 285
46. Josh Krause 285
48. Matt Thomsen 284
49. Eddie Domaingue 283
50. Shari Long 282
51. Kevin Pilz 279
51. David Whelan 279
53. Chris Aemisegger 278
54. Rachel Wetherill 276
55. Victoria Wags 275
56. Ken Stern 271
56. Peter Timbrell 271
58. Mike Wiser 269
59. Lisa Zarubick 268
60. Andrew Long 267
61. Kate Spitz 266
62. Greg Plank 261
63. Jon Caplin 259
63. Sandy Pilz 259
65. Kristy LaPlante 257
66. Kevin Curran 255
67. Adam De Guire 254
68. Diane Huffman 253
68. Matt Wiser 253
70. Courtney Tawresey 252
70. Brendan Loy 252
72. Amy Aemisegger 248
73. Larry Caplin 247
73. Bonnie Stone 247
75. David Kreutz 241
76. Danny Pilz 240
76. Mark Gardner 240
78. Jennifer Elam 235
78. Kristy McCray 235
80. Rosalie Town 232
81. Pat Caplin 231
82. Brenden Roche 230
82. Mike Quinn 230
84. Ricardo Valenzuela 219
85. Steve Hartranft 207
86. Katrina Lewonczyk 184
87. Roger Snyder 180
88. Melanie Dickson 158