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O’Brien Guides Two Teams to New Heights as a Captain

Recent Valley Regional graduate Brianna O’Brien is a leader in every sense of the word. Brianna always put the success of her teams above everything else while competing for the Warriors, whether it was on the lacrosse field or the basketball court. Brianna’s head coaches speak proudly about how she kept her teammates focused on their goals, and they know she’s the type of player that any coach can rely on to lead a team.

Brianna’s leadership skills helped her earn a captain’s role for Valley’s girls’ lacrosse squad last year, and Brianna says that was one of the biggest honors of her high school career.

“Being asked to be captain of the lacrosse team both junior and senior years, it meant a lot to me,” says Brianna, a Deep River resident. “[Head Coach Cory Needleman] was new my junior year, and she asked me a week after we started practicing. It made me feel really good, especially since the other two captains were seniors. I was proud that she looked at me as someone who could lead the team.”

Coach Needleman saw something special in Brianna after just one week of practice. Needleman says it was an easy decision to name Brianna as one of her team’s captains.

“It was a no-brainer. She was just a natural leader. I figured at the time we would make her a captain now, so she would have the experience for the next season,” Needleman says. “She doesn’t have to say much. She’s a great player on the field, and she takes initiative right away. The first day, I knew I wanted to watch this kid more, and I wanted to know her better as a person. She exceeded all of my expectations. There needs to be more kids just like her.”

Needleman and Geoff Konstan took over as the head coaches of Valley’s girls’ lacrosse and girls’ basketball squads, respectively, during Brianna’s junior year. Brianna says that she communicated effectively with both coaches, and she appreciates how each of them helped her become a better athlete.

“Coach Konstan and Needleman both taught me a lot for both sports,” Brianna says. “It was easy for me to get new coaches in my junior year, because they were both so easy to get along with.”

The Valley girls’ lacrosse team was in a state of flux last spring, as there were new schemes and a different style of play for everyone to learn. Although the squad saw some struggles at first, Brianna knew that what Needleman and assistant Coach Randy Netsch was teaching everyone was in the best interest of the program’s overall growth. Valley wound up winning four more games in 2017 than it did last year.

“I would say last season was a little difficult, because we were spending so much of the season learning things that were so helpful in the long run, but it was hard for us to put it together in one season. This season, we had pretty much the same girls and just a few new players. It was a little easier for us to catch on. We could just jump into game-like situations at practice,” says Brianna. “Coach Netsch taught me basically everything I learned freshman and sophomore years. When Coach Needleman came, it was just so helpful, and we all learned so much more. I love those two together.”

Brianna was a midfielder for the Warriors and will continue playing that position at Division II American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she will major in psychology. Brianna has to play offense and defense as a middy, and she excels in both roles. Brianna averaged more than three goals a game for the Warriors, received the team’s Most Valuable Player Award in her junior and senior years, earned All-Shoreline Honorable Mention as a junior, and was named to the All-Conference Second Team for the recent season. These accolades are the result of Brianna’s commitment to a sport she loves.

“I love lacrosse. It’s my passion, because it’s what I’m best at. I love working together as a team and always putting in 110 percent. As long as you leave 110 percent on the field whether you win or lose, that’s all we can ask,” she says. “We had such a young team, that it was so important that even the ones who were new and just starting were going out there and working hard. It was good to know that we all wanted the same goal. That was the best part. What was even better was that, win or lose, we were such a close team. We just wanted to get better.”

Much like the lacrosse squad, Brianna’s basketball team also made some big-time strides between her junior and senior seasons by progressing from seven to 14 wins to go along with berths in the Shoreline Conference and State tournaments. It means the world to Brianna that she helped Valley accomplish so much, while working alongside so many great people last winter.

“In basketball, I had two other senior captains who were two of my closest friends,” says Brianna of Libby Spitzschuh and Francesca Daniels. “We had a really good season. We made it to Shorelines and states. We wanted to have fun and take it seriously at the same time. We focused on teamwork and working together and being there for each other and pushing each other to do better.”

Brianna played staunch defense for the Warriors’ girls’ basketball squad, averaging 6.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game in her senior year. Coach Konstan counted on Brianna to keep his team in the game by stopping opposing offenses, but says that she was also integral to the Warriors’ success with how she conducted herself as a senior captain.

“Brianna is quite simply the best defensive player I’ve ever coached. Her intensity and passion for playing defense are unmatched, and combined with her incredible speed, she was a nightmare for opposing guards,” says Konstan. “We’ll miss her defense, but will equally miss her leadership both on and off the court. Brianna was a tremendous captain, excelling at making the younger players feel welcome and comfortable right from the first day of practice.”

Brianna knows that it took more than her own hard work for her get her to where she is, and she thanks her coaches, her mother Denise O’Brien, her stepfather Gary Kowalski, and her father Jim O’Brien for how they’ve all helped her along the way. In the end, Brianna constantly put in the extra effort at Valley, because she wanted her teams to come out on the winning side of things.

“I want to see my team succeed,” says Brianna. “Everything I do is for the team and for the coaches. I want to get everyone involved as much as I can, but I also really want to score, and see my team succeed.”