April 17, 2003
Maryland senior defensive midfielder Brett Harper is one of the nation's premier long-stick midfielders. He has been a three-year starter and is serving as a senior captain this season. The Terps are off to a 7-2 start and are heading into the ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Maryland will take on two-time defending ACC champion Duke this Friday night. Here's Harper's take on the team's unity and energy heading into the ACC Tournament as the Terps look for their first league title since 1998.
By Brett Harper
We have just arrived in Charlottesville this afternoon after a three-hour bus ride. This is the second time my class has come into the ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed. We were also the No. 1 seed in 2001, when we lost to Duke at the tournament held at Disney World in Orlando.
We are pumped heading into the tournament this year. We have all grown mustaches as a sign of team unity. We are very solid as a team and have camaraderie. A lot of the other teams in the ACC are considered "white collar" teams. But we have come to the ACC's with mustaches to show our unity and togetherness.
I won a lot of titles in high school at Upper Arlington in Columbus, Ohio, but since I came to Maryland we have had a very good team - we have always been ranked in the top 10, but we have never won any championships. Coming to college I had won Midwest Championships and was looking to winning in college but we have just missed out. Now we have the chance to win a title.
Last year was such a disappointment. We lost to Duke in the first round of the ACC Tournament held in Durham - in overtime, 8-7. That was our second one-goal loss in overtime to Duke last season.
This year, we have everything lined up, we are the No. 1 seed coming in and are looking forward to getting the ACC's started.
Coming off the Hopkins loss, which was televised by CSTV last Saturday night, it was such a heartbreaking loss. But it proved that we could play with them, the No. 1 team in the country. We know we can be a No. 1 team since we played them to a one-goal overtime game.
We are lining up to go after Duke in the first round and either North Carolina or Virginia in the championship, if we beat the Blue Devils. Duke beat us twice this year and we definetly want to go hard at them and get back at them.
This senior class is so close. We have 13 seniors this year and have all been together since we were wet behind the ears in the fall of 1999 as freshmen. It is such a great feeling to look across the field and see guys that have become "brothers." The junior class had grown up with us as well. We have developed a great family here. We have the closeness that a lot of other teams don't have - and with mustaches. I don't know many other teams that the entire team would grow mustaches as a sign of team unity in lacrosse.
I think being a senior; you have such great perspective of where you want to be as a team and where you can go as a team. As a freshman, you are scared and want to please people by doing what they want. But you learn overtime.
For our freshmen this year, hopefully, they will understand the ACC is no joke and everybody comes to play in the ACC. The freshmen know the recent history of losing twice to Duke last year. I know we can't take anyone for granted as we did when we lost to North Carolina. We have to go hard and give it our all for Maryland.
It's going to be a great weekend in Charlottesville in the mountains with a bunch of guys with mustaches.
