By Gary Lambrecht
Sun Staff

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Within two weeks, Maryland's Dick Edell should move into fourth place all-time among lacrosse coaches with 263 career victories. He might reach that milestone the day before his 56th birthday, when the Terps travel to play Cornell on March 18.

Not that Edell needs to look at those numbers to be reminded of how long he has been in this game.

"I don't need to look at that [career victory mark] to feel old. I feel old when I get out of my chair and things ache," said Edell, who is in his 28th year of coaching, including 17 at Maryland.

"I feel old when I'm walking over to practice, wondering why my legs hurt. When I'm coaching at a lacrosse camp and I run into the sons of people I've coached, that ages me pretty quick."

Edell's career record stands at Edell 260-116, including 149-69 at Maryland. With three more victories, he will pass former Towson coach Carl Runk on the all-time list.

The top three are Dick Garber of Massachusetts (300), Roy Simmons Jr. of Syracuse (290) and Army's Jack Emmer (273). Emmer, the only active coach of the three, replaced Edell at Army in 1984.

"If we win [the next three], they'll be a party on Sunday, March 19," he said. "If anything else happens, then I'm putting it off until I turn 57."

The 2-1 Terps, who face visiting Towson on Saturday, are rebounding from a familiar sight -- a one-goal loss to Duke. Last week, the Blue Devils handed the visiting Terps a 9-8 defeat in overtime, marking the third time in the last five meetings between the two teams that Duke had escaped by one goal.

Edell liked the way the Terps erased a 4-1 deficit with five unanswered goals. He also liked the way they rallied from an 8-6 hole to tie the score and force the extra period, and the way goalkeeper Pat McGinnis responded in the first big game of the year.

McGinnis, who replaced Kevin Healy after he left school last fall, had barely been tested before the 2000 season. He had nine saves against Duke.

"I think Pat answered those questions," Edell said. "We're not asking him to be the next Kevin Healy. We're asking him to be the first Pat McGinnis."