HANOVER — Time and time again, Watertown had a slew of penalty corners only to come up empty.
Finally, the Raiders cashed in on one.
Elizabeth Loftus took a pass from Molly Driscoll and whistled home a shot low to the goalie’s right side to give No. 2 Watertown (23-0) a 1-0 double-overtime victory over top-seeded Sandwich in the Div. 3 state field hockey championship. The title was the 19th in the storied history of Watertown field hockey.
“We weren’t successful with corners all game so we were really just trying to focus on what the play was,” Loftus said. “We knew they had two defenders so we were trying to make sure to move the ball well.”
One could forgive legendary head coach Eileen Donahue if she had flashbacks to 2019 when Lynnfield snapped her team’s streak of North sectional titles at 11 with a 1-0 victory, especially with the amount of penalty corners her team had (26).
“Think about it, we lost to Lynnfield in a similar fashion, missed corner opportunities, so a different story (today),” said Donahue, whose record is a stellar 714-34-36 in her 36 years at the helm. “It was extra special to see (this group) win their first state championship. I’m so proud of our girls, not one substitute, this is why we do all that running.”
Donahue knows as well as anyone that success in Watertown these days is based largely on whether they are the last team standing. Loftus said the players are unfazed by outside pressure to win championships.
“It’s not added pressure, if anything it’s more so wanting to do it for everyone that came through Watertown,” Loftus said. “We want to win for coach because she’s put so much into our program and us as players that we’re even more motivated.”
High School Sports, Sports