Gary Gait

Fancy meeting you here, Gary Gait.Not far from Johns Hopkins, little more than a stone's throw from the cradle of lacrosse, lives Gait with his wife of six months, Nicole.This is, indeed, interesting. For four years, Gary and his twin brother, Paul, were the scourges of college lacrosse, leading Syracuse to three straight NCAA championships through 1990 and leaving Johns Hopkins and everyone else in their wake. Many said they were the best offensive players in the history of the game.And now, in what was once for him enemy territory, resides Gary Gait, in a roomy unit in an apartment building in Homewood.

No. 5 Syracuse (2-2)@No. 4 Maryland (5-1) Saturday, 1 p.m. The Orange's .500 record is a bit deceptive because one of those losses was in overtime to No. 1 Northwestern, 11-9. With that showing and Saturday's 12-11 double-overtime win at Florida, Gary Gait's team will be a dangerous opponent for the Terrapins, who have not lost to the Orange in 11 meetings. The Terps are coming off a big week of their own, however, rebounding from a 10-9 loss to Duke with a 12-9 win over then-No.

Sean Radebaugh's four goals and three assists and Gary Gait's three goals and four assists helped lead the Chesapeake-Toyota Lacrosse Club to a come-from-behind, 20-16 victory over the Philadelphia Lacrosse Club in yesterday's U.S. Club Lacrosse Association South Division Championship at Loyola College.Team Toyota (18-1) advances to next weekend's Final Four at Cabrini College near Philadelphia, where it will face off against the winner of yesterday's matchup between the Yankee Division Champion Brine Outlaws and the Metro Division runner-up North Hampstead Lacrosse Club.

The first college lacrosse game Navy's Cindy Timchal ever coached didn't turn out the way most of them have since. She lost. On spring break 1982, she took her Northwestern team to Florida for the first game in the program's history. The Wildcats lost 9-8 to powerhouse Trenton State. The next day, they beat Dartmouth, 12-11. With that victory, Timchal began a journey to the pinnacle of her sport. Best known for winning seven straight national championships at Maryland, she has won more games than any other coach in the history of college lacrosse - men's or women's.

Gary Gait may have found his biggest fame by playing field lacrosse at Syracuse University. But it's the indoor box game that is secretly his passion."

The Philadelphia Wings were the ones who were supposed to be gasping for air in the second half of last night's Major Indoor Lacrosse League game.After all, the Wings should have been spent by halftime, considering they played Buffalo just a night earlier.Instead, it was the well-rested Thunder that was trying to catch its wind after giving up seven third-quarter goals en route to a 17-12 loss before 5,989 at the Baltimore Arena."Yesterday, we were a little hesitant and we weren't going after it and we lost, so today was a must-win game for us," said game MVP Gary Gait, who moved to within one of tying Thunder assistant coach John Tucker as the Wings' all-time leading scorer with 77 goals.

Gary Gait scans the field and sees the accustomed double team waiting.No space in the middle of the field. No opening around the goal. Nevertheless this is Gait, the quickest, strongest and more importantly, the most creative lacrosse player ever.So with one quick move behind the goal, he catapults himself in front of the goal and whips an airborne shot over his shoulder."Gary can do things that no one else can do," Thunder coach John Tucker said. "He is the Michael Jordan of our sport."In the United States, he's compared to Jordan.

Opponent: Syracuse SmashSite: Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, N.Y.Time: 7: 30Outlook: The first-place Thunder (3-0) spoiled the expansion Smash's debut with a 23-13 victory earlier this month. Gary Gait led Baltimore in that contest with seven goals and five assists while his twin brother, Paul, paced the Smash (1-3) with four goals and two assists. Gary Gait leads the NLL in scoring with 23 points (16 goals, seven assists); Paul Gait is tied for third with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The game was billed as the meeting of twins Gary and Paul Gait. It didn't live up to its billing as the Baltimore Thunder defeated the Syracuse Smash, 20-11, at the Onondaga County War Memorial last night.Baltimore's Gary Gait carved up the Syracuse defense for six goals and three assists in helping the Thunder stay unbeaten (4-0)."It was an emotional game for me coming back to Syracuse," Gary Gait said. "Paul and I were out to help our teams win. Sibling rivalry takes a back seat."

Gary Gait will serve double duty in next Sunday's Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game, to be held at 4 p.m. at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie. The midfielder and coach of the Bayhawks was selected as a player and, with the Bayhawks leading the National Division with a 6-2 record, he also will coach the National team. He will be joined by six other Bayhawks, including attackmen Mark Millon and Tom Marechek and goalie Greg Cattrano. The other Bayhawks on the team are midfielders Josh Sims and Paul Cantabene and defender Brian Reese.

When the University of Maryland allowed men's lacrosse coach Dave Cottle to resign May 23 after nine seasons, there were some who thought athletic director Debbie Yow was either gutsy or out of her mind. There was no middle ground. In the weeks after the resignation, it appeared to be the latter. But when the Terps hired Harvard coach John Tillman to replace Cottle on Tuesday, Yow might have scored a major victory. Only time will tell whether Tillman is a capable replacement, but the pedigree and potential are excellent.

Harvard head coach John Tillman agreed Tuesday night to become the ninth head coach at Maryland. The paperwork is still being completed, but an announcement could come as early as Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the situation. Terps athletic director Debbie Yow and senior associate athletic director Michael Lipitz, who heads the university's search committee, did not respond to e-mail inquiries. A school spokesman declined to comment, citing the absence of official paperwork required before confirming such a hire.

U nited States college lacrosse teams don't have to travel far anymore to find Canadian lacrosse players because the Canadians are finding them. Take Johns Hopkins freshman midfielder Zach Palmer, for example. Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala discovered Palmer on a three-minute highlight film Palmer sent Pietramala a little more than a year ago. On Tuesday night, Palmer, from Oshawa, Ontario, scored three goals and had two assists as No. 7 Hopkins defeated No. 19 UMBC, 16-10.

Gary Gait loves a lacrosse challenge. Since his All-America days at Syracuse 20 years ago, Gait has made an indelible mark on the sport at every turn. He revolutionized the men's game with his stick skills and acrobatic attack moves, winning more than a dozen championships on the college, pro and international levels. In 1994, he brought that same innovation and creativity to the women's game as an assistant coach at Maryland, inspiring a style of play that fueled a record seven-year run as NCAA Division I champion.

In the game among the stars, Johns Hopkins junior midfielder Paul Rabil was the best player on the field yesterday. Duke attackman Matt Danowski had a goal and an assist. His running mate, Zack Greer, had one assist. Hopkins' Jesse Schwartzman was named the Division I tournament Most Outstanding Player, but goalies get those type of awards when they show up at crunch times of games. From beginning to end in the championship game at M&T Bank Stadium, the sport's biggest stage belonged to Rabil, who set the tone by contributing on the Blue Jays' first two and last two goals, including the game-winner with 3:25 remaining.

In their pre-game notes, the Bayhawks include a feature called "This Time Last Year," which serves as a reminder of the team that won its second Major League Lacrosse championship last summer and was considered to have one of the greatest professional rosters of all time. But it also illuminates how frustrating this season has been. The Bayhawks (3-5) have matched their highest loss total in the franchise's six years and likely will miss the playoffs for the first time. A team that set a league record with a 31-9 win last June struggled through a 9-6 loss last month in the lowest-scoring game in MLL history.

Thunder tonight: NLL semifinalsOpponent: Rochester Knighthawks Site: Baltimore Arena Time: 7: 30Radio: WCBM (680 AM)Outlook: Both teams were 8-4, but the Thunder gained home-field advantage for this game by winning both regular-season encounters, 20-13 and 14-11. The Thunder has defeated the Knighthawks in each of their last four meetings. Baltimore is the highest-scoring team in the league (by 40 goals) and is led by the NLL's two top scorers, Gary Gait (50 goals, 32 assists) and Joe Hiltz (34, 46)

The Thunder's Gary Gait was named the 1998-99 National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player yesterday, marking the fifth straight season he has won the award in voting by the league's general managers and coaches.Also, the Thunder's Jesse Hubbard was named Rookie of the Year, and Gait and teammate Joe Hiltz were named to the All-Pro first and second teams, respectively.Gait, 32, who led the league this season with 50 goals, recorded his third consecutive scoring title and fifth of his career, finishing with 82 points in 11 games.

Tom Marechek collects national lacrosse championship rings the way some people collect baseball cards. "I have a nice little shelf in my little trophy room that has 11 national championship rings on it," said the high-scoring Bayhawks attackman. "Not a bad collection, huh? The only reason why I'm playing is to win championships. I love championships. I just love it. I'm very competitive. I love competition." This weekend in Boston, Marechek will be out to put championship ring No. 12 on that neat little shelf as the Bayhawks (10-2)

Matchup: Bayhawks (7-0) at Boston Cannons (6-1) Site: Nickerson Field, Boston University Time: 7 TV/Radio: None Outlook: In tonight's matchup of Major League Lacrosse's only teams with winning records, each leading its division, the undefeated Bayhawks take on old teammate Mark Millon, the league's all-time leading scorer. Millon and reigning league MVP Conor Gill, each with 32 points, lead Boston in scoring. The Bayhawks haven't missed Millon's scoring, though. Led by Tom Marechek (41 points)