READING — When Eileen Donahue approached reporters following Watertown High’s 4-0 Division 2 state semifinal win over Dover-Sherborn on Tuesday afternoon, the longtime field hockey coach was not alone. Her entire squad flocked behind her.
Donahue explained to the interviewers: “It’s all about the team, not about one person. From the coach all the way down to whomever.”
She turned to the giddy bunch with a motherly grin. “Just look at those faces,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of them. They work so hard out there.”
The 29-year coach will never single out an individual; it is the entire group that is responsible for the team’s unbeaten season and a ticket to the program’s sixth straight appearance in the state title game. The team-first approach seems to be working: The Raiders have not lost since 2009, boasting an unbeaten streak of 137 games.
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Second-year captain Alexandra Doggett and several senior classmates have never experienced a loss playing field hockey for Watertown High.
“We definitely come in with a target on our backs every single game,” said the Boston University recruit, whose squad will face Auburn High (17-3-3) in the state finals Sunday at 2 p.m. at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “But we focus on us. We take each practice, each day, one at a time.
“We keep it in our heads that we don’t want to know what it’s like to lose and to have that feeling,” added Doggett, who led the Middlesex League in scoring. “We know it’s definitely a possibility, but we’re a wicked tightknit team and we all give it 100 percent.”
That “100 percent” is no exaggeration. The Raiders have not only compiled a 22-0 record this year, they have also outscored opponents 109-0, led by Doggett and her Holy Cross-bound cocaptain, Emily Loprete.
Goalie Maddie Rocklin estimates she has had to make about a dozen saves all year.
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But she’s not just a statue back there. Donahue pointed out that Rocklin influences the game “directly with her voice.
“We work her extremely hard in practice,” for when those shots do come, Donahue said.
Said Rocklin: “Everyone just hustles all the time, and everyone gets back. If it gets by them there’s no giving up. They don’t even think twice and just go back and get it.”
Dover-Sherborn (19-1-3) had very few chances against Watertown, and the ones the Raiders did have were snuffed by the defense.
“They have 11 players playing perfectly at all times,” said Dover-Sherborn’s coach, Dara Johnson, whose squad lost to Watertown in the state semis last year by the same score.
“There are very few errors on their end, and I think they’re just used to that type of play. They’re very well disciplined.”
Acton-Boxborough facing Nashoba Regional in Div. 1
Acton-Boxborough Regional’s field hockey squad has also benefited from a combination of teamwork and discipline in its journey to the Division 1 state final.
Like Watertown, the Colonials are unbeaten and have yet to surrender a goal this postseason, but they head into Sunday’s state final with a completely different mentality than the Raiders: They seek redemption, after last fall’s unbeaten run was halted by Walpole in the state semifinals.
“Last year we had what we thought was a truly amazing group of girls with such depth and talent,” said Acton-Boxborough’s coach, Mae Shoemaker, whose squad blanked Dennis- Yarmouth Regional, 3-0, in their state semifinal match on Tuesday.
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“This year, right from the beginning, they felt like they really needed to get back to where they thought they should have been last year, and get that monkey off their back.”
Senior captain Leah Cardarelli said the team listens to Ed Burke’s renowned speech “Last Play” before most games, which “gives us motivation to win and come out on fire.”
Cardarelli, the leading scorer in Eastern Massachusetts, had been tightly covered throughout the playoffs, and held scoreless through the first four tournament games. Teams took a defensive-minded approach against the Colonials (22-0- 1), and as a result they were tested while eking out three 1-0 victories.
Prior to Tuesday’s match against the Dolphins, Shoemaker reflected on the close games, saying, “I think the girls have been playing a little bit reserved, almost afraid that they’re going to lose. They’re holding back a little too much, but we’re trying to work on it.”
That work paid off in a convincing three-goal win, with Cardarelli potting two.
“These girls all have a fire and a passion in them and a never-quit attitude,” said the 12th-year coach, crediting great senior leadership from her captains, Cardarelli, Fallon Shaughnessy, and Maggie Bettez. “They’re just a great group of girls with wonderful hearts and just a true love of the sport.”
Cardarelli and many of her classmates know what it is like to raise the state crown, after winning the title in 2012. After the bitter ending last fall, the Michigan-bound forward wants nothing more than to hoist it one last time after they face Nashoba Regional (20-1-1) Sunday at noon at WPI.
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Shoemaker said that has been the goal “since day one, even before we stepped onto the field for our first practice. They had a mission in mind to get to states, and here we go.”
Taylor C. Snow can be reached at taylorcsnow@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @taylorcsnow.