O'Brien, a senior striker for Spruce Creek, went to the nation's capital in March to make it official: He has signed with Howard, a prestigious historically black university that U.S. News and World Report ranks No. 2 among all HBCUs and in the top 100 of all U.S. colleges and universities`.
While Howard is No. 2 on the magazine's list of HBCUs, O'Brien came out ranked No. 1 in voting by area coaches and The News-Journal prep staff to decide the 2011 Boys Soccer Player of the Year honor.
O'Brien, who had 28 goals and 13 assists for a Hawks team that lost 2-1 to Miami Varela in the Class 6A Final Four and played some of the toughest competition in the state, edged teammate Kiro Roman and Taylor's Jose Rios, both of whom had extraordinary seasons. Roman scored 22 goals and had 19 assists for the 26-2-4 regional-champion Hawks, while Rios had 43 goals for the 16-4-1 district-champion Wildcats.
Several schools in the Sunshine State, including Florida Gulf Coast University and South Florida, recruited O'Brien. But in the end he opted for one of his out-of-state options, deciding on Howard, which plays in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Soccer Conference that also includes Adelphi (Long Island, N.Y.), Longwood (Virginia), New Jersey Institute of Technology and Houston Baptist.
Boys soccer chatter with Spruce Creek's Austin O'Brien
O'Brien, a senior forward, is the Hawks' leading scorer with 23 goals and 11 assists for a total of 57 points. Creek is the No. 1 seed in this week's District 2-6A boys soccer tournament in large part to the offense put up by O'Brien and fellow Hawk Kiro Roman (18 goals, 13 assists, 49 points). O'Brien spoke to staff writer Sean Kernan.
You're having a great season. The team is 19-1-4. What's the mood going into districts?
"We plan on winning and doing really well. We just want to play our game and reach our goals -- stay focused on winning districts, playing well in regionals and just continue on and play out the season."
How old are you and how long have you been playing soccer?
"I'm 18 years old and I've been playing soccer since I was 3 years old. My mother (Maria) got me into soccer. She was a runner. She was pretty good at it. So she saw soccer as a running sport. I guess when you're 3 you can't run track. At first we started off just kicking a ball around the house and when I got to be 4 or 5 she put me in a YMCA league. I guess she saw that I was pretty good and she never took me out of it."
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