May 7, 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 captain this season. This week Brett writes about the Terps' NCAA first-round match-up with Ohio State, his hometown team. The game will be broadcast live on CSTV this Sunday at 2 p.m.
By Brett Harper
When I found out that we would definitely be facing off against Ohio State in the first round, I felt a mixture of things. Gavin Webb and I grew up in the shadows of Ohio State - his family lives just a couple of blocks from the school and he used to ride his bike to campus all the time. Growing up in Ohio, you are a Buckeye from birth, so with that and the fact that my dad played golf at Ohio State, it's been bred into me from the beginning.
I love Ohio State in every aspect expect lacrosse. I respect the team though and I know Coach Joe Breschi - we're friends - but that's pretty much where we draw the line. I also know a lot of kids on the team. We've worked camps together and are pretty close. There an aggressive, football-like mentality to the team and I look forward to facing them and seeing some faces in the crowd that are familiar.
My parents are definitely a little shocked about the match-up. They've always wanted us to play Ohio State, but in Columbus, so they could entertain all my friends here and give back to the Maryland lacrosse team. They're not disappointed or anything, but I think it's a strange mixing of their two worlds. They have their Maryland lacrosse family and their Ohio lacrosse family and it will be interesting for them to have those worlds collide.
The team is really excited about the game. The freshmen and sophomores have never been to the playoffs. The veterans understand though that this is a good thing for us. We have the ability to play some good teams and make our way to the final four. We have a pretty good road of opportunities and we're ready to take advantage of it. I think we've learned our lesson over the past two years - losing to Towson at home in the quarterfinals two years ago and then not making it at all last year - showed us a lot.
It helps that were coming into this with three solid wins under our belt. These wins have given the defense something to build on - I really can't say enough about Lee Zink and his consistency right now. I hope that he continues to bring that and that the rest of the close defenseman can continue to play their parts of the game. Each one of us is part of the whole and when we each do what we need to do, the whole comes together.
We will be working on that until we play on Sunday. We will not be at Disney World; we will not be joking around. I'm sure we'll study the scouting reports and watch some films. We'll look at the scores from Saturday's games, but mostly we'll concentrate on getting ready to play our game the Maryland way.
