JONNA’S PLAY GOAL-DEN
Key to Watertown’s nationally renowned field hockey team
There’s a lot of field hockey in Jonna Kennedy’s life. That is exactly the way she likes it.
The goaltender for Watertown High’s reigning state champion field hockey team is not just the Raiders’ go-to between the pipes. This offseason — if you could call it that — the Herald All-Scholastic tended net for the U.S. Junior National Team during a series in Ireland.
It was a highlight in a career already filled with them, and it prepared her well for her final season at Watertown’s aptly named Victory Field.
“You can always get better. You can always improve,” Kennedy said. “Playing in that (international) setting with those with a lot of passion for the game helps you improve.”
Kennedy has become a national team regular, spending her last two summers at its Futures Program and in the Junior National Team camp. As one of only two goalies picked for the travel squad, it was a real honor.
“It was so neat to play at such a high (competitive) level and against another country,” Kennedy said.
National camps and international play provide the Boston College commit with advanced lessons she is able to impart to her Raiders teammates. A second-year captain, Kennedy leads Watertown in the dominating style of play that has become a trademark as it has rolled up two national-record streaks.
“We want to play with high intensity and high energy,” Kennedy said in a vast understatement.
Watertown played with such intensity and prowess over the past eight years that it has set national records for consecutive wins (123) and games without a loss (183). In the process, the Raiders have rolled to eight consecutive Division 2 state titles.
Much of the recent success can be directly tied to Kennedy’s skills between the pipes. She allowed just seven goals all of last season.
Kennedy is quick to chalk up her success to her teammates.
“It definitely helped,” she said, “to have such a strong team in front of me.”
That team-first mentality is one preached by Watertown’s legendary leader, 31-year coach Eileen Donahue. She is also one not to let players sit on their laurels, and in listening to Kennedy, one can clearly see her influence.
“We take things one game at a time,” Kennedy said. “We always look forward to the next practice, the next game.”
This season, Kennedy will look to lead her team in those Donahue principles without last year’s co-captain and longtime teammate, her older sister Kourtney. Last year’s National Senior Field Hockey Athlete of the Year, Kourtney Kennedy is a freshman at UConn this fall. The middle Kennedy sister will miss looking downfield and seeing her sister score goals, but she is confident in the direction Watertown is headed, especially with her younger sister Ally beginning her sophomore season.
“Obviously Kourtney was a big part of our team last year,” Jonna Kennedy said. “But we lose players to graduation every year. It’s a new year, a new season and a new team.”
It might be a new team, but as Kennedy prepares for her final high school season, she will rely on the principles of hard work picked up from her older sister and coach Donahue.
“We want to give it all we can on every single play,” she said.