Brendan Egan (2003)

A big reason why George Kapner of Westfield has been one of the state’s most successful high school soccer coaches has been his ability to make quick adjustments.
When the Blue Devils started the season with a most uncharacteristic 0-2 record, Kapner
knew changes were needed so he took the team’s best all around player, Brendan Egan out of his longtime sweeper position and moved him to midfield..

The move paid almost immediate dividends as after splitting the next two games, the Blue Devils ran off an eight game winning streak that ended on Wednesday, October 22 with a 2-0 loss at undefeated Scotch Plains. Among the victories was a revenge win against Linden who had edged Westfield in the second game and made Kapner realize that changes were needed.

“Brendan was providing much of our offense, overlapping from his sweeper
position. This was weakening us in the back while providing more scoring punch
up front. We knew that Brendan was an extremely qualified soccer player who
would easily be able to adapt to the midfield and that we had a number of other
strong players on the back line, so we made the switch,” said Kapner.

Initially, the move surprised Egan, a first team all union county selection a year ago and three year starter, but he quickly adapted.
“I came into the season thinking I was definitely going to be the sweeper because that is what I had been for the past two years. After we started the season 0-2, coach decided to experiment with me in other places until we finally found the fit at defensive center midfield. I was willing to try anything he wanted, and so when he moved me around, I just tried to do my best. It was a little tough for me to get at first, because I always had played defense, but I think I'm finally starting to get it,” added Egan.

His skills were evident in the first half of the Scotch Plains game where Egan along with fellow senior midfielder Lee Tomasso gave the Raiders fits with his speed and ball control but the Blue Devils were unable to score.
“The game was both disappointing and encouraging. It was encouraging because we know how well we played in the first half and that we stuck with them, but disappointing with how badly we played in the second half and ended up losing. However, much of the credit has to go to Scotch Plains, because they completely outplayed us in the decisive half,” said Egan.

Kapner lists “speed and field awareness” as Egan’s strengths. Egan enhances his speed by being a 2:01 half miler and a sub 50 second quarter miler on the Westfield track team. He considers the two sports complementary.
” Soccer has helped my track success by keeping me in shape during the off season and building up strength that is needed in races. Track is so important to my soccer shape. It keeps my level of endurance up and helps out with speed training. Track workouts vary between distance and speed, and both can help out immensely on the soccer field,” said Egan.

Egan follows in the footsteps of his older sister Katie, the fourth of six Egan siblings, who was a soccer and track star at Westfield before playing collegiate soccer at Colby College in Maine where she was team captain her senior season. Katie Egan is currently the head coach of the girls' soccer team at Gill St. Bernard's in Gladstone NJ Egan In addition to his sister Egan has four older brothers the first three who attended St. Josephs of Metuchen.
He also credits his soccer awareness from his seven years with his Players Development Academy (PDA) team the Conquistadors a team of predominately younger players. “It's actually pretty funny,” said Egan.

“ I am one of the youngest kids in my grade since my birthday is on October 8th. My parents decided to send me into school a year early when I was 3. But, as a result, I was never able to play traveling soccer with the same kids that are in my grade, and always had to play with the kids one grade lower than me. Because I was associated with this age group, I was able to play for the Conquistadors. We have had tremendous success and won the NJ Club State Title in the Under 16 division.”

It is not surprising that such a well spoken athlete is also an honor student who is an aspiring writer. Egan is opinion and editorial page editor for the high school newspaper the Hi’s Eye and plans to major in English or journalism in college.

Despite the two losses to Scotch Plains, Egan is optimistic of a strong finish.” I think that we as a team are getting close to peaking at the perfect time so we should be up for both tournaments. As a senior especially, I know that not only me but my other senior teammates (Lee Tomasso, Jeff Nusse, Matt McMannus) want to leave our mark on this program when we leave. So, doing well in both the county and state tournaments would be great..”

Kapner, while quick to make changes is more hesitant on where Egan ranks with the many great players he has coached in his long career.
“That is as yet to be determined. He was a significant part of the 2001
sectional championship team, but we fell short last year. Great players prove
their greatness by being a part of great teams. Brendan and the other members of
the 2003 Westfield High School Boys' Soccer Team have the potential for
greatness. Only time will tell if they can take their place alongside some of the
other great boys' soccer teams of the past.”