Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Field Hockey Wins a Nail-Biter Over Reading

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Friday afternoon’s contest was the last of five straight home games for the Raiders before they go on the road next week. On an absolutely beautiful Fall afternoon, Watertown hosted Reading, who was in third place in the Liberty Division. The Raiders started the day in first place in the Freedom division at 4-0, and remain in first at 5-0, but it wasn’t easy. Reading looked like the road team in the first period, as in they arrived late because of Friday traffic, were allotted 15 minutes to stretch and warmup, and then the game began. Watertown won the first period in every way — except on the scoreboard, where it remained 0-0 after one period. Reading barely crossed midfield, the Raiders had all the scoring chances and were awarded six penalty corners because of the constant pressure they put on Reading. A bit of a bug-a-boo this season, though, Watertown could not convert on any of the six PC’s. 

Reading got their bearings in the second and finally put some pressure on Watertown, albeit in drips and drops. In the meantime, Watertown continued to force the play. Gianna Venezia and Kaylee Master were especially active, and seemingly always around the ball. Finally, with 7:40 left till the half, Watertown’s pressure led to a scrum in front of the net, and finally Avangaline Anderson was able to put the ball in the cage and give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.  

Freshman goalie Natalia Keuchkarian was certainly not busy, but was called upon to make one tough play when a ball came at her awkwardly and with a a big bounce. She played it aggressively and decisively punched the ball out of harms way with her blocker. Late in the period a wild scrum occurred in front of the Watertown goal. Keuchkarian came out to cut off an angle on a potential scoring chance, but the ball squirted around, Watertown defense scrambled to cover the goal while the goalie worked to get back in position, and somehow, Watertown avoided giving up a goal, as well any violations from the ref. Now, you would have bet dollars to doughnuts that Watertown would figure out how to add to the lead in the second half, but it was Reading who applied the early pressure. After that, both teams kind of lulled for awhile, and then Watertown got their game back and applied more pressure. That led to four more penalty corners, but none led to a score.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Raiders Field Hockey Dominates Melrose, Anderson Leads the Way

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Watertown’s schedule has allowed them to play nothing but home games of late, and that continued versus Melrose. This game was a one-sided affair that Watertown led from start to finish. Avangeline Anderson netted 5 goals today to lead the way for Watertown. Watertown peppered the Melrose goalie early and often, and she had trouble controlling rebounds, and her defense wasn’t very helpful when it came to clearing the ball. Anderson was always in position and scored a number of her goals off rebounds, her stick ready to knock the ball in the cage. Anderson scored two in the first period, one in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth. Kaylee Master had three goals of her own, Aisling Brennock two and Sophia Setouhi and Katelyn O’Connor each contributed one. Unofficial totals had Watertown with at least 25 shots on net to only three for Melrose. The interesting storyline for me is the simple fact that Watertown scored 12 goals — or more specifically they were allowed to score 12 goals. Now look, what I know about field hockey is next to nothing. It has been fun and an honor to cover Watertown Field Hockey the past few years. They work hard, they play hard, and the deserve all the accolades they receive.     

So, by watching their games, you come to learn some things. One thing I’ve learned is that when Watertown gets up by seven goals they shut it down, so to speak. They stop taking shots on goal.  They stop even taking the ball towards the goal. Today, they went up 6-0.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Field Hockey Wastes No Time Getting Back To Their Winning Ways

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Watertown Field Hockey expects to be the best. They practice hard. They train and play year-round. They have a legendary coach in her 40th year who cares about her players, cares about teaching the sport, but also cares about teaching life-lessons. So, while no one feels sorry for Watertown after they lost for the first time since 2019 on Tuesday, players were certainly eager to learn from the loss and move on towards their ultimate goal — another State title. Watertown did just that Thursday afternoon, shutting out Wakefield 8-0. The first half was played under a steady rain, but didn’t cause much in the way of slipping or errant play. Watertown controlled the action, but just couldn’t find the back of the cage. The Raiders were even awarded a penalty stroke (aka, penalty shot), but Kaylee Master was stonewalled by the Wakefield goaltender.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Field Hockey’s Streak Ends in Battle of 2024 State Champs

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Coaches often speak in cliches. Kids gave it their all… Every game is a big game… We learned a lot about ourselves tonight… and so on. All those cliches would be true after tonight’s non-league game between Somerset Berkley and Watertown at Victory Field. Watertown came into the game as four-time defending Division 3 Champs, 6-0 in 2025 and on a 103 undefeated streak spanning more than five seasons. Somerset came into the contest with one loss and a title, having won the Division 2 State title in 2024. Something had to give on a warm and muggy third night of Fall.  What everyone in attendance was treated to was an exciting and hard-fought high school athletic contest, one that reminded one and all why athletic competition can be so cool, so fun, and so heartbreaking. Is it really fair to characterize tonight’s loss as heartbreaking when you haven’t lost in 103 straight games? Sure. Competition is competition, streak or no streak, and Watertown’s squad left it all out there on the field tonight. By the end of the game, co-captain’s Ava Lamacchia and Sophia Setouhi were fighting leg cramps, for example. And you know what, the challenge of this evening seemed to me to be simply wanting to beat a Div.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Field Hockey Keeps on Trucking Against Stoneham

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Of Watertown’s first five games this Fall, only one was at home, back on Sept. 9th. It was a classic though, as Watertown edged Belmont 2-1 to reach the century mark undefeated for the second time in the program’s illustrious history. Thursday, on a beautiful and warm late-summer day, the Raiders played the first of five straight at home against the 0-3-3 Spartans. Watertown was looking to go to 6-0 on the young season. Coach Donahue’s squad did what it so often does — win — by completely controlling this game. Final score, Watertown 5 Stoneham 0.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Field Hockey Beats Belmont to Win 100th Straight Game

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The Watertown High School field hockey team celebrated its 100th straight win on Sept. 9, 2025. (Photo by Teagan Parker / WCA-TV)

Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out. ~ Robert Collier

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. John F. Kennedy

Watertown began defense of their State D3 Title – make that the past four years in a row and 22 in the past 39 years, all under the guidance and leadership of Coach Eileen Donahue – last week. Wins at Lexington and Burlington (6-1 and 6-0 respectively) provided Watertown with their 98th and 99th consecutive contests without defeat. Their home opener against cross-town rival Belmont would provide a major early-season test, or at least that’s how Belmont surely thought of it. 

Considered a top 10 team in the Boston Globe pre-season rankings, the Marauders won their first two games as well. They played Watertown close last season in a 3-0 loss at Belmont, and they sported two seniors already committed to college programs next year, including Coach Donahue’s niece, who’s heading to UNC. So, the stage was set – the champs with the pedigree, but with a roster in transition, versus the challengers, eager to be the team to end Watertown’s epic undefeated streak.

Sports

Watertown Field Hockey Team Starts Quest for Fifth Straight State Title

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Watertown’s field hockey team seeks a fifth-straight State Championship in 2025. Pictured, then-sophomore Kaylee Master tips in Watertown’s second goal in the Raiders’ 2-0 win in the 2024 State Final. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Watertown High School’s field hockey team finished 2024 on a roll, and will begin the 2025 campaign looking for a fifth straight State Championship and to add to a winning streak that now stands at 97. The Raiders ended the 2024 season in style with a 2-0 win over Sandwich in the Div. 3 State Final.

Sports

Former WHS Player Readying for Her Sixth Year as a College Field Hockey

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Aurise Tattrie will be playing her sixth year of college field hockey at UMass Lowell this fall. (Contributed Photo)

Aurise Tattrie has amassed perhaps the longest college career of any former Watertown field hockey player, as she enters her sixth year playing at UMass Lowell. She will play her final season as a captain of the River Hawks, but the journey has had its ups and downs. In her time in Lowell, Tattrie (who plays back) has appeared in 54 games, made 52 starts, scored one goal and added four assists for 7 total of points. She has played 3,083 minutes for the River Hawks.