April 21, 2000
By Christian Swezey
Special to The Washington Post
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Jeff Shirk and Jason Carrier shook hands, and it was official: They were best friends.
But the agreement did not occur on a practice field or after a team meeting in College Park, where seniors Shirk and Carrier are among the Maryland men's lacrosse team's four co-captains. It took place in Carrier's driveway in Boonton Township, N.J., when they were 4 years old.
"We had moved to Jersey a year earlier and our fathers had become friends," Shirk said. "I remember my dad came up to me and said he wanted me to meet someone. We walked a couple blocks to their house and Jason was sitting on a trash can next to their garage. Right when we were introduced he said, 'Do you want to be best friends?' And I said, 'Yes.' We have been inseparable ever since."
That includes their current positions on the field. Shirk is a three-year starting defensive short-stick midfielder for the Terrapins, Carrier a three-year starting defenseman. Their play this year is a main reason Maryland ranks ninth in the nation in defense, at 8.3 goals allowed per game, going into its Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal against Duke tonight at Byrd Stadium.
But for the season, and their careers, to have a happy ending in the NCAA tournament, the Terrapins probably will have to win at least tonight's game, if not the championship.
While Carrier and Shirk grew up in New Jersey, Shirk's father, Gary, was a tight end for the New York Giants. They were apart--briefly--when Carrier's family moved to Boston when Jason was in first grade. Even then, though, the Carriers and Shirks met once a year for summer vacation in Maine.
"That is something that has always stayed with me," Carrier said. "That even when we lived apart, we were still getting together once a year."
Four years after they had departed, the Carriers moved back to New Jersey. But it seemed unlikely Carrier and Shirk would remain in close proximity after they graduated from Mountain Lakes High School. Carrier was a first-team high school all-American defenseman as a senior and was recruited by most of the top NCAA Division I programs.
Shirk, then an offensive midfielder, finished his senior season with nine goals and five assists. He was recruited mostly by NCAA Division III schools. Some Division I schools even told him he was not good enough to play at that level.
The afternoon Carrier signed a letter-of-intent to attend Maryland, he saw Shirk in the school's hallway. He suggested that Shirk get Mountain Lakes Coach Tim Flynn to call Maryland Coach Dick Edell on Shirk's behalf.
"I probably would have gone to [Division III] Denison if I had not gone to Maryland," Shirk said. "To be honest, I did not know anything about Maryland before Jason signed there. But the way he described it made me really want to go there."
Things have gone so well there that Carrier's twin sisters, Brooke and Colby, decided to attend Maryland, where they are now juniors. In addition, Carrier's mother, Marcia, maintains an unofficial Web page for the Terrapins.
When Carrier and Shirk were freshmen, the unheralded Shirk played more than his friend did, although that was not always such good news for Edell.
"What is my favorite memory of Jeff?" said Edell. "In a game against [Johns] Hopkins when he was a freshman, he went to hit a Hopkins kid and slid into the bench area. But he kept going, ran into me and knocked me horizontal. I went head over heels."
Over time, Carrier established himself for the Terrapins, but not after some second thoughts. An outstanding hockey player in high school, he represented the United States in a tournament in Europe and briefly considered leaving Mountain Lakes High after his sophomore year to attend a prep school in New England that specialized in hockey.
"To this day I love to play ice hockey," Carrier said. "But if I had left Mountain Lakes, it would have meant leaving lacrosse--and Jeff. It has meant so much to play here with him. No one can take that away from us."
