Ryan Doherty was one of the top lacrosse prospects to come out of Concord’s youth hockey system in recent years. Now, it comes as no surprise that he’s tearing apart opposing defenses as a starting sophomore attacker for the Division 1 University of Albany Great Danes.

At St. Paul’s School, he was a leader of the offense and received recognition as one of the best young prospects in New England. In his freshman year at UAlbany, he filled the stat sheet and received multiple accolades, including America East Rookie of the Year and the All-Rookie First Team. 

But, how did he go from Pee-Wee lacrosse in Concord to succeeding at the D-I level?

Where it all began

Doherty began playing lacrosse at age 6 for 4 Leaf Lacrosse. He then moved on to play for the New Hampshire Tomahawks and then played for the Concord Crush in middle school.

He played his first two years at Concord High School before transferring to St Paul’s under coach Joseph Bernier. When he transferred, Doherty had to repeat his sophomore year, but the change yielded great success.

  Bernier said Doherty always had an innate and unique knack for scoring goals. Some of the credit goes to the programs he was involved in, but Doherty’s success came from always working to improve his game.

“He’s one of the hardest-working kids we’ve had, that I’ve  been around,” Bernier said. “He had multiple leadership positions while he was here; he was on the varsity hockey team. You’re not going to find very many high school kids with his level of intensity.”

In his senior year, Doherty scored 38 goals with 37 assists and a total of 171 points in 40 games at St. Paul’s, which earned him All-Lakes Region, All-NEPSAC and US Lacrosse All-America honors. Doherty also lettered in hockey and golf at Concord High School and St. Paul’s, but found his true calling in lacrosse.

“It was definitely a challenge adjusting to the academic rigor and living away from home, but after a few months into the year I started to gain my footing and I had a lot of great people around me to help with that transition. It was not easy but it was great in retrospect for my development as a person and a player,” Doherty said.

“I think some of the biggest things from St. Paul’s are just the work ethic and the showing up every day and getting better, and then also just the ability to take time on my own work, on my own craft, by myself or with other teammates in St Paul’s.”

The transition

Based solely on his performances for the lacrosse team, Doherty’s transition was seamless athletically. On the academic side he is majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Spanish.

 He said some of his older teammates took him under their wings and have prepared him for everything ahead.

“Growing up, I used to always watch Albany Lacrosse playing, and they’ve been such a prominent team in college lacrosse. So when I finally got here on campus it was kind of surreal,” he added.

In his freshman year Doherty started in 17 games and finished the season third in goals (37) and sixth in points (50) in America East. He was one of the premier attacking threats on the 9-8 Danes. Because of his success, he was named the America East Rookie of the Year and was named to the All-Rookie team.

Learning to balance offensive output and academic achievement in college took some adjusting, he said. Luckily, he had already made a similar switch in high school.

“You’re in such an environment at St Paul’s where academically you’re always working on something and getting pushed and pushing each other people to be better,” he said. “So that really, really prepared me well for Albany. They give us a lot of support and they help us schedule our classes around practice and everything.”

Hitting new heights

This year he’s on pace to smash his career highs and has already surpassed some. In early March, he tied the single-game goal record, set by brothers Lyle and Miles Thompson, for UAlbany, with nine goals in a win against Hobart.

Doherty leads the America East conference in goals with 36 and is second in goals per game while only being fourth in shots per game. He’s 11th in assists per game, which was enough to place him third in points per game.

Bernier has had the chance to watch Ryan Doherty play for UAlbany and is currently coaching his younger brother, Carter Doherty. Bernier said that seeing the success of his former students is one of the most rewarding parts of his job and he’s glad that Ryan is finding success.

“He’s settled into a perfect role for his skill set. They have a couple of guys who can carry the ball, distribute, and then he can operate off-ball,” Bernier said. “His most obvious strength is shooting the ball.”

Most of all, Doherty is focused on making it to the NCAA tournament this year. He said he’s taking it day by day, week by week, and putting effort into pushing his team as far as he can. The Great Danes have clinched a conference championship berth, but need to make it through the gauntlet to make the national tournament.

“It really has been that kind of process of mentality all year, just focusing each week and each day as its own, and just really working on being intentional and getting little things done,” he said.​​​​​​

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com