Hanging on the wall of Reagan O’Brien’s room is a newspaper body. On it lies a imprecise, but easy assertion, which reads: ‘It all started with a girl who hated to lose.’
The phrase is one which drives the Boston Latin senior each single day. For years, the Charlestown native has wreaked havoc on opposing groups all through Eastern Massachusetts. Now, the All-American and four-time Dual County League All-Star is trying to go away one closing stamp on this system she helped construct, earlier than persevering with her lacrosse profession at Johns Hopkins University subsequent 12 months.
“She’s the top high school kid I’ve coached,” stated Boston Latin coach Tegan Avellino. “For sure. She’s been the top player in our league for a few years.”
O’Brien first fell in love with lacrosse after seeing the enjoyment it introduced her older sister Quinlan when the 2 had been youthful. It didn’t take too lengthy for the siblings to develop chemistry on the sector.
“When I first started, I just had so many role models to look up to,” O’Brien stated. “My older sister played, and my older cousins played, and I just saw how much they loved the sport of lacrosse. I decided to choose lacrosse over soccer in 7th grade. I think that’s when I really solidified my love for lacrosse in general. I think I’ve just seen so many great people grow up with the sport… seen how many lives it’s changed. So, I just found out that I loved it, and that it was going to be the rest of my life.”
A real midfielder at coronary heart, O’Brien has had numerous highlight-reel performances throughout her tenure, together with a 12-goal outing within the season-opener on April 5 in a 20-6 rout of Westford Academy.
“I just love all aspects of the game that are competitive,” stated O’Brien. “I think that I can always strive to be a better version of myself. I don’t think about the goals when I’m scoring, I just think about the team winning.”
From the second she arrived at Boston Latin in 2017, Avellino realized that O’Brien wasn’t your typical athlete. She had a killer intuition for locating the cage, and was very aggressive in her pursuit of floor balls. Immediately, O’Brien discovered herself on the Dragons’ varsity roster.
“Every game, I’m in awe when she’s running through the midfield on defense,” Avellino stated. “She’s just after the ball, and nine times out of 10, she’s going to get it.”
O’Brien shattered her newest barrier throughout a sport again on April 16 in opposition to Winchester, when she sniped the four-hundredth objective of her profession. Some could choose to pause the sport for a quick celebration.
For O’Brien, the esteemed accomplishment was merely enterprise as ordinary.
“In that moment when she scored her sixth goal (of the game), her 400th goal, she ran back to the center draw to take the next one,” chuckled Avellino. “That was it. But the team held up a banner on the sidelines, she glanced over, then went right back to work. We were able to celebrate with her at the end of the game, which was good.”
As talked about, O’Brien will observe in her older sister’s footsteps, when she heads to Baltimore subsequent fall to start out her collegiate profession at Johns Hopkins. After going over her big range of potential choices, Reagan was drawn to the college for way more than only a household connection. The alternative to share the sector with Quinlan as soon as once more was merely an added bonus.
“I just wanted to make sure the college was the right fit for me personally,” stated O’Brien. “I just didn’t want to follow her wherever she went. But once I met the coaches, met the team, saw the culture, saw everything on the campus, it was a great mix of academics and athletics for me. It had the perks of my sister being there, so I finally felt at home. I feel like everyone tells you that you’ll feel like home when you finally get there. That’s what I felt.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com