The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes

It takes a special kind of athlete to start on a varsity team as a rookie. To start and contribute is even more impressive. But Sean O'Hare '12 has exceeded both those accomplishments. O'Hare came onto the Brandeis Athletics scene as a two-sport star, starting in net for the men's soccer team in the fall and as shortstop and center fielder for the baseball team in the spring.

"In my 36 years of coaching [I've seen] some very good athletes here. Sean O'Hare is already one of the top four or five that I've ever seen," men's soccer coach Mike Coven said.

In the fall, O'Hare started the soccer season, splitting time with Taylor Bracken '10 as the team's primary goalkeeper, but earned the starting job in the fourth game of the season against Babson College. By season's end, he logged over 1,000 minutes in goal and started in 10 games, leading the team with 52 saves.

O'Hare has had even more success this spring. Playing two of the most athletically demanding positions, shortstop and center field, O'Hare started all but two games and finished the season with an even .300 batting average while finishing second on the team with 26 RBIs and third on the team with 42 hits.

Aside from his ability to excel at two positions, O'Hare led the team with 28 runs scored and nine stolen bases with a perfect stolen base percentage.

"He was a big get for us; we thought of him as a shortstop and outfielder, and he's a tremendous athlete," assistant baseball coach Brian Lambert '97 said. "Especially in the mental aspect of the game, he only needs to see or hear something once, and he figures it out."

O'Hare, a native of Southampton, Mass., was initially recruited by Coven to play soccer, but word of his two-sport potential got out fast.

"I still know a lot of people in the area, and when I mentioned O'Hare's name, people would tell me what a great baseball player he was," Coven said.

Coven informed Lambert and baseball head coach Pete Varney, who also had their eye on O'Hare.

"We had definitely seen him [before Coven told us about him], and we knew he was a two-sport athlete and a great student, so Brandeis seemed like a great fit for him," Lambert said.

O'Hare said the attention he received from both coaching staffs and the academic standards at Brandeis drew him to the school.

Continued...

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