Doherty the Voice Of Experience For Sachems

It's 2:30 p.m. on Monday and students are heading out of Winchester High School. But that doesn't mean class isn't in session.

The subject is the tournament, and when it comes to competing in the MIAA's postseason, Sachem senior Tara Doherty has pretty much seen everything. From lacrosse to ice hockey to this season's undefeated field hockey team, one way or another Doherty has been involved in 18 tournament games. As the No. 2 seeded Sachems prepare for their opening field hockey game against Waltham Thursday, Winchester's starting low-mid knows what it will take to win in the tournament and there's a lesson to be learned.

"It's mostly about the team aspect. If you have a team of good players who don't really work well together you're not going too far in the tournament," said Doherty. "But if you have good chemistry within the team, you all trust each other and work together, you can go a long way, even if you aren't the most skilled team."

Though Winchester's resume this fall includes wins over defending Division 1 North champion Acton-Boxboro and defending Division 2 champion Watertown, beginning Thursday it doesn't mean a thing. And, it certainly doesn't guarantee a win over the Hawks.

"They don't care, they just want to win," said Doherty of No. 15 seed Waltham.

This is a story about Doherty, but don't look for that paragraph that's loaded with statistics. She's scored in field hockey, she's scored in ice hockey, and as a defensive player in lacrosse doesn't think she's scored in her spring sport. Coaches Michelle White, Craig Seabury, and Suzanne Onsto appreciate having Doherty on their teams, but it isn't because of any eye-popping stats.

"She’s the type of physical defender that can limit a good attacker from getting any rhythm going," said Ontso, the Sachems' lacrosse coach. "Players like Tara often go unnoticed until you check the scoring after a game and realize that she’s made her player work twice as hard to score half as many goals as they normally do."

No disagreement from Seabury, the girls' ice hockey coach.

"Tara is a special athlete these days. She is all about winning and not about recognition or individual stats which is rare. Tara listens, learns and is a coach's dream."

Doherty will be captain of both the lacrosse and ice hockey teams. But for now, those teams can wait.

Except for a September tie with Belmont, the Sachems field hockey team has been the perfect this fall and while the loss of Mariah Redler to a knee injury in the win over A-B will hurt, it hasn't changed their status as one of the Division 1 favorites. That's in part because of a deep roster that includes a tournament-tested senior in Doherty.

"She was a kid last year that worked very hard. She just wasn't finding herself in a lot of games," said White, who teaches biology and forensic science at the high school and has been head field hockey coach since 2004. "There were a few things we asked her to work on and she came back a different player this year. Ultimately the reason she's in the position she's in is that she's so consistent. She's our Steady Eddie this year. I can go thru and think about each game where maybe somebody didn't have such a good game or whatever. For the most part I don't think I could come up with a game that she didn't have at least a good game. And most of the games she's played really well. This year she's stepped up. She's really a different player than she was last year."

It could be because her sister Marisa is gone, now a freshman at Villanova. Marisa played soccer instead of field hockey but was on the ice hockey and lacrosse teams with Tara. Her absence has pushed Tara to take greater responsibility, a theory she doesn't disagree with.

"I don't think it's that crazy," said Doherty, a National Honor Society student who will soon be applying to Fordham, Villanova, Tulane, Vermont, and possibly Lehigh. "We grew up playing sports together. Now that she's not here I do have to depend on myself to wake up in the morning, not be late to go to practice. Something inside me stepped up. I just have to depend on myself now, not my sister."

It also helped that she was playing something every day during the summer, whether it was in lacrosse, field hockey, or ice hockey. She'd spend the day teaching sailing in Gloucester, then head off to her sport de jour.

Then again, it could be none of the above and as she said, "Maybe something just clicked, like senior year."

Whatever the reason, Doherty will be at her usual spot Thursday, and that includes starting all Sachem corners, an added responsibility given to her by her coach.

"She's just consistent, she gets the ball out fast," said White. "It gives us more of an opportunity to get a play off because the defense is coming out after you. If we can get the ball to the top of the circle faster then we have some time for a play to develop rather than just having to quickly take a direct shot. She's been very consistent with the inserts. She always had a good stick in the circle, she just had a different position. Now she plays an integral part since she touches the ball every corner."

Six games separate Winchester from a state title. At 17-0-1, the Sachems have already broken the school record for wins in a season. But six more ... Doherty knows it won't be easy.

"Teams are just playing to survive, so you have to be on top of your games at all times. Especially when you get deeper in the tournament, you can tell all the teams really want to win. I'm sure Waltham will come out with a really hard game on Thursday because it's one and done. Their season could be over in one game so everyone wants to win.

"I've played in a couple games, especially hockey and lacrosse, where it was tied in the last couple seconds and we lost. Not a fluke, but in the last couple seconds the other team scores. That's a big trend in the tournament because the talent is really matched up, especially when you get further into the tournament. Those last couple seconds are totally crucial. Each team really wants to win it. That's when you see the true team come out."

Nobody knows better than Doherty.

Photos by Bob Holmes