Years in the making!
Watertown High School field hockey sets national record for consecutive games without a loss
December 18, 2015
In November 2008, the Watertown High field hockey team went down in the semifinals of the state tournament. Seven years, six state championships, and 154 games without a loss later, the Raiders stand alone.
With a 6-0 win over Melrose on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field, the Raiders extended their unbeaten streak to an incredible 154 games, breaking the national high school record set by the Eastern High Vikings of Voorhees, N.J., from 1999-2005.
It was business as usual on the field, with Melrose failing to register a single shot all afternoon. But if the action on the field was normal, the atmosphere was anything but.
The stands at Victory Field were as packed as they’ve ever been for a field hockey game, as hundreds of Raider fans, Watertown residents, parents, and alumni — including some of the great players that have passed through one of the most dominant programs in state history — spent their Wednesday afternoon witnessing history.
“It’s just so special, I’m so proud of all the hard work that all my coaches and players have put in,” said coach Eileen Donahue, who’s been at the reins of the program for the last three decades. “Once you’re a Watertown player, you’re always a Watertown player, and it’s touching to see all these people come to support them.”
After the clock hit zero and the buzzer sounded, the scoreboard at Victory Field was set to 154 on the time slot, with the words “new nat’l” and “hs record” on either side of the milestone, as the Raiders celebrated their historic achievement.
The box score couldn’t possibly reflect the magnitude of the game, as what looked like an everyday 6-0 blowout on paper was really a culmination of nearly seven years of pure dominance, and decades of unprecedented excellence for one of the most dominant programs — across all sports — that the state has ever seen.
The Raiders’ most recent loss came on Nov. 12, 2008, against Hopkinton in the state tournament semifinals. 2,535 days came and went, and no one has been able to topple them.
This most recent streak of success is arguably Donahue’s greatest, but it’s only a part of the coach’s incredible legacy. With an unbelievable 590-30-45 record and 15 state championships, Donahue is one of the most successful coaches the sport has ever seen, and was named the National Field Hockey Coach of the Year in 2013. Her most recent championship team, the 2014 squad that took home the program’s sixth consecutive state title last fall, was the picture of dominance, going a perfect 23-0 without allowing a single goal during their run.
With their celebration finished, the Raiders (16-0-0) continue their quest for their seventh consecutive state championship against Wakefield on Friday, Oct. 23.
–Oct. 21, 2015–
