New MHS soccer coach excited about start
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
When an injury felled him in high school, Sean O’Hagan found out how much he enjoyed coaching.
”I got injured at an early age,” O’Hagan said. “It kept me out of playing soccer for a year. I learned that I liked coaching when I was 15 or 16.
”I started picking it up and taking courses. I’m around coaches daily because of the soccer shop and people like to come in there. I kind of picked it up that way. I started taking courses and one thing led to another.”
O’Hagan is the new head coach for the Montgomery High School girls soccer team. He takes over for Jeremy Beardsley, who stepped down after leading the Cougars to the Group IV state championship game last year.
”They’ve been successful for four years,” O’Hagan said. “They had a very strong senior class last year. How I look at it, with the talent they had, there’s bound to be that talent again. It’s all cyclical. It repeats itself.
”I’m excited after coaching them for a week. We have a very small squad in numbers. It’s a good thing. The girls that didn’t get to show a lot get to show themselves this year. It’s probably the best thing.”
There will be plenty of new opportunity for the Cougars with a new coach, new faces in the starting lineup, even a new field.
”So far, so good,” O’Hagan said. “It’s pretty cool. It’s a new experience on my end. I haven’t been a high school coach before. I’ve only done club high school coaching. We just got a brand new turf field and just got on that (Thursday).”
O’Hagan is plenty familiar with the area. He played soccer at Somerville High School and he helps run his family business, Go Soccer, in Bridgewater. He coaches for the Go Soccer FC club team.
”We pick it up Sundays in October,” said O’Hagan, who will continue to coach at the club level while finishing his degree at Rutgers University. “I don’t coach anyone below the age of high school. It’s good on that sense. I’m always around that kind of competition. I coach a lot of kids out of Bridgewater, so that’ll be a fun game.”
O’Hagan wasn’t really looking around much for a high school head coaching job, but the Montgomery opening was just the sort of chance he had to take.
”I was very content coaching club,” O’Hagan said. “I like the competition level you get. I said I’d only consider it if it was one of the bigger schools in the area. I didn’t get an urge to do it. I enjoyed coaching club, but I got a call asking about Montgomery. It was right down my alley.”
O’Hagan, a 2008 graduate of Somerville, did not have any personal experience with Montgomery, but he has taken note of the school’s development.
”I don’t ever remember playing Montgomery,” O’Hagan said. “I do know they were pretty good.”
The Cougars began work with their new coach on the second Friday in August. It was a chance for the players and the coach to get a sense of each other. O’Hagan has a mix of experience with this year’s group of players.
”We like them to show what they can do,” O’Hagan said. “Some kids don’t play club soccer in the spring. You have to balance the two out. Some of the kids that do play club are maybe more technically gifted, but there are girls in Montgomery that have the athleticism that they may not have. They balance each other very successfully.”
O’Hagan has worked with a variety of talent at the club level. It gives him experience to take on a new position that includes playing in one of the toughest counties in the state. Last year’s state final featured two Skyland Division and Somerset County teams.
”For the most part, besides Montgomery (High), I do not coach anyone in Montgomery,” Hagan said. “I coach a player at each school that we play. I kind of know the general competition that I’m going to play against, which is very strong. I think we dropped in enrollment so we may have gone down a division, but I know the competition levels in the schools are still very high because I coach a lot of the girls in club ball.”
O’Hagan stays close to soccer wherever he is. He has been playing since he was a toddler, and now he’s made it part of his lifeblood with a role at Go Soccer. He will put his Rutgers degree to work for the family business that keeps him around soccer even when he’s not coaching.
”We opened it in 2003, when I was just a freshman going into high school,” O’Hagan recalled. “I’ve been playing soccer all my life. I’ve been coaching since I was 18-19.”
O’Hagan is looking to bring out the best in this year’s Cougars. He would like his new team to show just how much ability they have to compete and excel at the high school varsity level.
”I’m one of the coaches that wants the players to have a great time,” O’Hagan said. “You always remember the games you play in high school, they’re the games you remember your whole life. It’s memorable. I always try to reinforce the school pride in them.”
O’Hagan comes to a program that has built itself into one of the best in the state. They come off back-to-back state championship appearances, including an historic state title in 2012. Montgomery players have grown up seeing the success at the high level and hoping to emulate it when they have their chance.
”I think there’s definitely pride,” O’Hagan said. “They are very young. The majority of our team is sophomores and freshmen. We have very strong leadership in the seniors. We have two seniors (Sarah Bielawski and Olivia Tilles) that are great leaders. I’m a believer in how you play soccer is how you work in life. They have a correlation. You need a specific sort of leader to make sure things get done.
”They’re an extremely young team,” he added. “These players didn’t get to show what they wanted last year, but they’ll definitely get the chance this year.”
O’Hagan is thrilled with the opportunity to step into a strong program in an age group that he is familiar with in a competitive area. It is just the sort of chance that he wanted when he moved into his first high school job.
”I’m expecting a very fun year with these girls,” O’Hagan said. “They have the potential to do some great things. I’m excited. They’re excited. When you have a new coach, everyone wants to do everything they can to impress the coach. The girls are putting in way more percent than I expected. Expectations, because we are such a young team, the sky’s the limit on this one.”