By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/25/10
St. Joseph’s Prep senior face-off specialist/midfielder Jake O’Brien has made a verbal commitment to play Division I lacrosse at Lafayette College.
O’Brien was a First Team Catholic League Southern Division selection last year for the Hawks, who finished No. 8 in the final PA Media Rankings and reached the league finals. O’Brien plays club lacrosse for HEADstrong Elite and Seven Nations.
O’Brien will join fellow Hawk senior Cory Scheuerle (attackman) as a Lafayette recruit. Three other Philly seniors have committed to Lafayette: Brian Bock (Spring-Ford, attackman), Keegan Lawton (Bishop Shanahan, attackman) and Carl Lampe (Episcopal Academy, defenseman).
O’Brien, a High Honors student, plans to major in International Business or Economics.
“After visiting and getting to know the team and coach (Terry) Mangan, it felt like this was it,” O’Brien said. “I love the campus and academically it’s great.
“I also like the program and the job coach Mangan does up there.”
The Leopards went 8-6 last year and were ranked in the Top 20 most of the year after a 7-0 start.
O’Brien and Scheuerle are two of five Hawks seniors to commit to Division I colleges. The others are attackman Rob Watts (St. Joseph’s University), defenseman Connor Dent (Bryant) and midfielder Jeff Heath (Delaware). Also, defenseman Clint Barber has committed to Division III Denison.
O’Brien is confident St. Joseph’s Prep can challenge for a Catholic League title. The Hawks have fallen to La Salle in the finals the past seven years.
“We’re going to take one step at a time,” he said. “But we feel if we work hard and keep focus, this is the year we have our best shot in a while. We’re excited to get started.”
O’Brien wished to thank Gold Medal Recruiting for helping in his recruiting process.
Seniors can sign National Letters of Intent during the early signing period Nov. 10-17.
