Soccer
Favorite athlete: Zach Ertz
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Central Bucks West was my favorite memory of all time. Being a part of a three-goal comeback in the last 10 minutes of the game was the best feeling ever.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My sophomore year, I took my first penalty shot of my high school career. I hit the ground before the ball and tapped it so lightly that it didn’t even reach the goal. I have not taken another penalty shot since.
Music on your mobile device: I listen to a wide variety ranging from Lil Wayne to Coldplay depending on the mood. Country, however, will never be seen on my playlist.
Future plans: I hope to attend Villanova University or University of Delaware to become an actuary.
Words to live by: “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.”
One goal before turning 30: I would love to invent something.
One thing people don’t know about me: I am the President of the chess club at my school and was actually eighth in the state at one point.
By Mary Jane Souder
Soccer is in Josh Hagerty’s blood.
The Hatboro-Horsham senior’s older sister, Jordan, was a lifelong soccer player, and his father, Gary, still plays. It was a natural progression that Josh would pick up the sport.
Granted, he tried tennis for several years and also played basketball for the community youth program, but soccer has always been Hagerty’s passion.
“My dad taught me how to do everything, and just seeing how much he loved it – it was kind of in the family, and I started loving it,” Hagerty said. “I never felt obligated.
“It was always something I loved. Just the feeling of scoring a goal or making an assist – there’s no better feeling than that.”
Hagerty spent his soccer career playing in the midfield, but this fall, coach Kyle McGrath needed a veteran to help anchor a defense that took a hit to graduation. He called on Hagerty.
“He didn’t blink an eye, and he moved back there and had a very good year for us at center back,” the Hatters’ coach said.
Hagerty initially had some misgivings about the move.
“I had been playing center mid basically all of my life up until this year,” he said. “I knew my team needed a center back after losing a few key players from last year, and I was willing to do anything to make this season a great one.
“It was scary at first knowing that my mistakes could lead to goals, and the last thing I wanted was to be responsible for a loss, but after a few games of adapting and winning, I felt less pressure and learned to enjoy the position.”
Hagerty’s high soccer IQ helped to make the transition a smooth one.
“Technically, he’s sound,” McGrath said. “He reads the game extremely well, and he’s a smart player on the field.
“He knows when to put himself in good positions and when to wait for support. Just being able to read the game so well, playing intelligently and playing within himself – he never tries to do too much. He always tries to do what’s the right play.”
Hagerty did a whole lot right in the Hatters’ memorable run to the SOL American Conference crown.
“After our third game, Kyle (McGrath) took us into our gymnasium and made us look at the banners all across the gym,” Hagerty said. “He pointed out the soccer banner and he said, ‘What’s the last year up there?’ It said 2002, and he talked about how special it would be for our year to be up there, for my senior year to be up there.
“I can always come back and see that – it’s a very special thing.”
McGrath pointed to Hagerty’s leadership as a significant piece of the historic season.
“He’s one of our quieter players, but obviously, being a center back, you need to be a leader, and he really helped out our two outside backs who were first-year varsity guys and calmed the game down for them,” McGrath said. “He really helped our goalkeeper who was starting for the first time this year.
“He wasn’t the most vocal guy, but his presence on the field made the other guys comfortable. He was one of our hardest workers, so that was something the younger guys could look up to as well.”
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Hagerty’s journey at Hatboro-Horsham began when he was a member of a successful freshman squad as a ninth grader. He spent his sophomore year on the jayvee.
“I knew there was a chance I could have made varsity, but honesty, I wasn’t going to be upset with the decision because I knew that there were two choices – either I would sit the bench varsity or play all game on jayvee,” Hagerty said. “I ended up playing the whole game on jayvee, and that kind of set me up for junior year when I started pretty much every game.”
McGrath – who has coached Hagerty on his Ukrainian National club team the past three years - acknowledged that his sophomore year was a bit challenging.
“He was at that in-between stage of probably too good for jayvee but not quite good enough to contribute a ton at varsity,” the Hatters’ coach said. “His junior year he carved himself a role in the center midfield and played a bunch.”
Hagerty was a fixture in the starting lineup the past two years, and he admits his senior season exceeded his wildest expectations.
“We had a scrimmage against West Chester Henderson,” he said. “We scrimmaged them every year, and it was the first time beating them ever.
“After that, we knew our season was going to be something special. As the season went on, we kept winning and winning. At the beginning, the expectations weren’t that high. We were kind of surprising ourselves at a point. Towards the middle of the season, we were like, ‘Wow, we really have a chance,’ and we didn’t let up.”
A 2-0 win over Upper Dublin in the Hatters’ second last conference game all but sealed the title.
“After that last game against Upper Dublin, we knew we were going to be winners, and we were going to remember that forever,” Hagerty said.
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Hagerty is the very definition of a student-athlete
With a weighted grade point average of 5.90 and unweighted GPA of 3.96 (only a B-plus in Spanish kept him from attaining a perfect 4.0), Hagerty is ranked 12th in his senior class.
“My parents pushed me, but they know I do it on my own,” he said of parents Gary and Melissa Hagerty. “I understand that I have the opportunity to do something with my life, and I’m not going to let that pass.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Hagerty is president of the Chess Club. He is a member of the Key Club, LINK Crew and Future Business Leaders of America. He’s also joining his friends for one last go-round with the HHoops youth basketball program.
He was recently accepted into the University of Delaware’s Honors College and has also been accepted at La Salle and is waiting to hear back about the Christian Brothers Scholarship. He also is waiting to hear from Villanova and the University of Pennsylvania.
“He’s extremely intelligent in the classroom,” McGrath said. “Ultimately, that’s what we want to build – we want to build great young men.
“The reality is – none of these guys are probably going to go professional, so if they can get a great education, long term that’s the most important thing.”
Hagerty plans to pursue a career as an actuary.
“I’ve always loved numbers,” he said.
He also plans to continue playing soccer at either the club or intramural level.
“I can’t see myself just quitting after this,” he said. “I would never stop.”
In his spare time, Hagerty works at a 55-and-over community where he also volunteers.
“My mother works there and my grandmother lives there,” he said. “I started working for her doing the stuff no one else wants to do like the trash, the hedging.”
Hagerty recently began a clothing drive at the community.
“I put out boxes around all the buildings so the residents can donate whatever extra clothes they have,” he said.
The clothing collected will be distributed through the Broad Street Ministry in Philadelphia.
“Players like Josh make our job easy as coaches because we never have to worry about any distractions,” McGrath said. “They’re always doing the right thing and in the right places. It just makes coaching easy and enjoyable.
“His work ethic and his intelligence – those two things combined and just his personality – you know he’s going to do well with whatever he does in life going forward.”
