Men's Lacrosse: Former Captain Reminisces Last National Title
Baltimore County, Md. -- Sunday, May 10th marked the 16-year anniversary of the Knights' last NJCAA national title.
Travis Begay was a defenseman and one of the captains of that team. Late Tuesday evening, the San Diego, Calif. native sent the following message on Facebook to his former teammates and coaches.
We are honored he has allowed us to share it:
"I've always enjoyed time and historical markers. I meant to do this years ago, in 2014 for the 10 year, then moved around a bunch and forgot where I put everything.
In 2004, I saved some newspaper and bought a bunch of pictures from a photography company for keepsakes - social media didn't exist in 2004 - and stashed them safely away in a random shoe box. I have been watching "The Last Dance" documentary the past few weeks [phenomenal], which brought up some serious memories/nostalgia, and reminded me to go digging for the lost shoebox and go jump in the time machine.
We never had a reunion or honoring of that year, so instead of a meaningful normal round number like 10 or 15, this past weekend was the 16th anniversary of the 2004 Essex National Championship team. Special team and special season.
Ridiculously talented group of guys from all parts of the country - Maryland, Virginia, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California - that didn't make it into a four-year college for whatever reason; the East Mississippi State of lacrosse if you will. You go to Essex to get noticed and move on to a four-year and compete for a National Championship.
It was [then] head coach Brian Duncan's first year after many as an assistant. Dunc was the kind of head coach that worked you extremely hard, made you pay attention to the details and little things, and was a master motivator. There was a method to his madness, and we bought in. A bunch of 18-20 year old, wild rag tag group of kids with chips on their shoulders, and he was our leader. It was beautiful chaos. We would've run through walls for that man and coaching staff. We were unstoppable.
We had a small but solid group of returning sophomores and a deep and talented freshmen class. That team was stacked. Littered with All-Region and All-Americans, and gritty role players. Something like 18 members moved on to a four-year college and played division one or three ball.
We knocked off Herkimer, Nassau, and Suffolk all on the road in the regular season, won the Region XX title, and capped off the season with a 19-0 record and National Championship...in overtime. It was ridiculous and worth every second of the grind and the sacrifices.
Just insane fond memories with a great group of people. A simpler time.
Sixteen years doesn't feel like sixteen years. I meant to do this a long time ago. Time slips by us all, unfortunately. Shout out to Coach Dunc, Zopp, Wrze, Flannigan and all the players that took part in making that year and that weekend a special memory for all time.
Stay safe old friends and take care."