Player Spotlight with Hannah Doherty
9/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
With a pair of home contests this weekend against Penn and Lafayette, LibertyFlames.com turns its attention to this week's player spotlight, Hannah Doherty.
The senior midfielder hails from Little Silver, N.J., and currently ranks fifth in program history in goals scored with 14 and is one assist shy of cracking the top 10 with seven assists. Doherty tallied one assist in the Lady Flames' 6-3 season-opening victory over James Madison on Friday.
Who introduced you to the sport that you're playing?
Doherty: My two sisters, Meghan and Abby, introduced field hockey to me. They played in high school and I used to always go to all of their games with my parents. So when I got to high school, I played too!
Tell me about your family. What do your parents, or guardians, do? How many brothers or sisters do you have and what do they do?
Doherty: I am the sixth child from the eight kids that my parents had. My dad is a carpenter that specializes in kitchen/bathroom remodeling. My mom is a manager at Trader Joe's food store (yum!). I have four sisters and three brothers. Their names are Meghan, James, Abby, Danielle, Caleb, Elizabeth and Jonathan. Also, I have 3 brother and sister in laws: Mike, Ashley, Luke. Finally, I have two nephews, Liam and Carter.
If you weren't playing your sport which one would you enjoy playing?
Doherty: If I wasn't playing field hockey, I would most definitely be playing lacrosse. I played all through high school and loved every second of it.
Tell us your recruiting story on how you got to Liberty.
Doherty: My story is unique and that's why I know it was God's plan for me to be on this team. I was trying to be on the field hockey team before there even was a team! My sister, Abby, was part of the group of students that helped the program get started on campus. So when the team was finally made, I contacted Coach Jodi to ask her to watch me come play at a tournament in Arizona my senior year. After watching a couple of my games, she came up to me after my last game and asked me to be on the team.
If you could get away from your sport for a little bit, what would you enjoy doing?
Doherty: If I could get away from my sport for a little bit, I would probably be more involved in the campus serve ministry here at Liberty. During the spring, I really enjoyed going and cannot wait to go this upcoming spring. Also, I would definitely bake more.
What are you studying, and what do you enjoy about that?
Doherty: My major is Health Promotions. I really enjoy helping people making better lifestyle choices to improve their quality of life.
Who were your heroes growing up, and who did you emulate in the backyard or playground?
Doherty: My heroes growing up were my older siblings. All of them are so hard working and excel in certain aspects of their life. Since there are so many of them, I could learn different things from different people.
The team posted six goals in the victory over James Madison this past Friday. What did it feel like to get that first win out of the way in such a tough schedule?
Doherty: It was awesome! I think the first game is always questionable because it can either go really well or really bad. In this case it went well, but we still learned about a lot of things we can improve on.
You welcome Penn, Lafayette and Richmond to Lynchburg over a span of five days, what would it mean for the team to begin the season 4-0 at home before heading to Ohio and Louisville?
Doherty: If we begin the season 4-0 at home before heading to Ohio and Louisville, it would be great because every game is important to us because we do not have a conference. Also, it would give us the confidence that we need to finish what we have already started on our home turf.
