BEL AIR, Md — The Harford Fighting Owls men's lacrosse team, from Harford Community College, has completed a historic three-peat, claiming their third consecutive NJCAA National Championship after defeating Nassau 20-10 on Sunday.
The victory cements the program's dynasty status under head coach Aaron Verardi, who has been building the program for 11 years.
Watch as the Harford Fighting Owls reflect on their 3rd consecutive NJCAA victory
"It's an amazing feeling, and really, I think back to the first team that won it and I think back to my 1st nine teams here that didn't win it, but slowly built up to it. It's a lot of them that take a lot of pride in watching us, and for me, that's just what it was all about from the get-go. Taking immense pride in being a fighting owl," Verardi said.
The standard of excellence Verardi has established continues to inspire current and future players.
"They want to leave their legacy and make their mark on this program. They take a lot of pride in that, and they know that the future players that come through here are gonna look at them and see some stories and things that they want to try and live up to and build on as well," Verardi said.
When reflecting on this championship team, Verardi highlighted their resilience throughout the season, including during Sunday's title game.
"We let up three goals early on in the Nassau game. A lot of teams might have felt a little bit of pressure there or started even crumbling a little bit, and our guys just took it in stride and knew they had 57 more minutes left to play," Verardi said.
Even after achieving the three-peat, Verardi remains focused on the future of the program.
"We're recruiting we're we're getting our guys situated for next year. The process kind of just restarts the next day. that's the fun part for me. I mean, honestly, this is not a job to me. This is a labor of love," Verardi said.
The championship continues Maryland's dominance in the sport of lacrosse.
"Lacrosse is king here, and you know it's in the high schools all the way down to the youth levels. There's just a lot of people that love lacrosse here," Verardi said.
The video in this story is credited to Nate Lopez, Harford Community College Athletics.
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