July 29, 2015

Ending Up as 5th All-Time Scorer for Dickinson Lax, PDS Alum O’Brien Overcame Injury to be Productive

STICKING WITH IT: Carly O’Brien heads up the field in action this spring during her senior season with the Dickinson College women’s lacrosse team. Former Princeton Day School standout O’Brien enjoyed a superb career for Dickinson, tallying 166 points in her career, fifth best in program history.  (Photo by by James Rasp, provided courtesy of Dickinson’s Office of Athletic Communications)

STICKING WITH IT: Carly O’Brien heads up the field in action this spring during her senior season with the Dickinson College women’s lacrosse team. Former Princeton Day School standout O’Brien enjoyed a superb career for Dickinson, tallying 166 points in her career, fifth best in program history.
(Photo by by James Rasp, provided courtesy of Dickinson’s Office of Athletic Communications)

Sadly, Carly O’Brien ended her senior season with the Dickinson College women’s lacrosse team this spring the same way she finished her freshman campaign – with a serious knee injury.

While injuries may have hampered O’Brien during her college career, the former Princeton Day School standout accomplished a lot when she was on the field for the Red Devils.

The high-scoring 5’8 forward tallied 166 points in her career, fifth best in program history, on 114 goals and 52 assists. She ranks seventh all-time for the team in goals and fifth in assists.

“Every time I stepped on the field, it was my job to score,” said O’Brien, a three-sport performer at PDS, who played soccer and ice hockey in addition to lacrosse.

“The defense worked so hard to get the ball and I wanted to come through. Because of the injuries, I wanted to make the most of the time I was on the field.”

Coming into this spring, O’Brien was looking to make the most of her senior season.

“My first three years, we came so close to the Centennial Conference  playoffs so my main goal was to make playoffs,” said O’Brien reflecting on her mindset coming into 2015. “It was a young team with a lot of talent and potential.”

O’Brien and the Red Devils got off to a good start, going 3-0, but couldn’t get over the hump, losing some tough games to ned the season at 8-7 overall and 4-5 Centennial.

“We beat Ithaca on spring break and they were nationally ranked,” recalled O’Brien.

“We played Trinity; it was really good playing them. We hung in the game for a while. I got my 100th goal against Gettysburg, that was special. They have been such a good team. It was another game where we hung in there early.”

O’Brien’s last big game came against McDaniel as she tallied five goals and three assists in a 14-6 victory on April 15.

“McDaniel was a good win for us; they had beaten us on overtime the last two years,” said O’Brien.

“I think it was double overtime as a sophomore. Our coach had played on McDaniel so we were fired up for game.”

A week later, O’Brien’s season and career came to an abrupt end when she got injured.

“I tore a ACL in the first minute of game against Swarthmore,” said O’Brien, who will be getting surgery on the knee in August. “To say the least, it was heartbreaking.”

 O’Brien is heartened by the program’s prospects going forward. “The team is going to be really good next year,” asserted O’Brien, who scored a team-high 43 points this spring on 27 goals and 16 assists, earning second-team All-Centennial Conference honors for the third straight season. “I think things are in good hands. Gettysburg and F&M have been dominating but I think that could change.”

While O’Brien ended up as one of the few survivors in her class in the program, she believes the group of seniors is leaving a positive legacy.

“My class started with 11 people and we ended up with three,” said O’Brien. “There was a coaching change and some injuries; it is a Division III school and people are involved in other activities. You have to put in a lot of time on a sport and some people don’t want to do that. The goalie (JoJo Auerbach) and I were four-year starters. We had good experience and we transferred it to the underclassmen.”

In reflecting on her time at Dickinson, O’Brien is leaving with some indelible memories.

“I think it started with loving Dickinson and loving the community,” said O’Brien, a psychology major and religion minor who is looking to get a job in the human resources field.

“I didn’t like it as much as a freshman but when I came back I was really comfortable. I didn’t want it to end. Competing at D-III in one of the strongest leagues in the country, I had a great experience. I didn’t think about it being over until it actually was. It is hard not being able to play again, sports has always been my main thing. I always had a season to look forward to, I knew I wanted to play at the college level.”