Kelley O’Hara, the Beat’s newest free-agent signee, is excited about coming home to Atlanta to play soccer.
But there’s one more thing she’s excited about: Chick-fil-A.
After playing for WPS teams in San Francisco and then Boston, she hasn’t gotten too many opportunities to eat a chicken biscuit. Now that she’ll be playing for the Kennesaw-based team, she also plans to order a No. 1 combo often. First, she wants to get settled in with her new team and her old home.
“It’s so exciting, I’m thrilled,” said O’Hara, who grew up in Fayetteville. “My family’s excited. My friends are excited. It’s going to be a really great time and a great fit.”
O’Hara could provide a goal-scoring punch for a team that has struggled to score in its first two seasons. The Beat finished last in scoring in the six-team WPS last season, the only team to average less than a goal per game (0.39).
O’Hara, a forward or winger, scored four goals in 13 games for the Breakers last season, and six goals the previous season for FC Gold Pride, which selected her third in the WPS draft earlier in 2010.
She thinks playing at home, where she’s comfortable, could result in even better performances this upcoming season.
“When you are a professional athlete, how you perform on the field relates with your happiness off the field,” she said. “With people I love and care about in the area, that will be a big advantage.”
She said she’s already heard good things about Beat coach James Galanis, and the fact that she has played with many of her new teammates could ease her transition and result in not only more goals, but a championship.
“I do believe we have a shot,” she said.
That she’s a professional athlete who will soon play in her hometown wasn’t a combination she even considered while starring at Starr’s Mill High School. There was no professional women’s league at the time, so playing for the U.S. national team was her goal. She starred at Stanford, scoring 57 goals and in 2009 won the Hermann Trophy, given to the nation’s top player.
After earning previous call-ups to the various youth national teams, she earned her first appearance with the women’s national team against Mexico in 2010. She was on the bench, “screaming her lungs out,” when Abby Wambach scored on the famous header to tie Brazil in the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup.
Even though time was running out, O’Hara said she never thought they were beaten.
“I thought, ‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to end. This isn’t where our story ends,’” she said. “Abby and team put it together. It made sense, ‘This is what’s supposed to happen.’ It was the most incredible sporting memory I’ve ever experienced.”
