Doherty's Murphy, Nashoba's Davis have their girls' soccer teams off to undefeated starts
Beyond soccer, Brigid Murphy enjoys playing the piano.
She learned how to play from her 94-year-old grandmother, Eleanor Murphy, who tickled the ivories aloud for the United States' Allied forces in Germany as part of a non-governmental organization during the 1950s before becoming an active member in the Worcester community for many years as both a private teacher and a musical coordinator.
And Murphy’s great-grandfather, Owen James Murphy Sr., worked at M. Steinert & Sons — a piano merchant — in Worcester for 65 years.
Nowadays, the 16-year-old Murphy keeps her family tradition going when she plays the piano inside of their Worcester home.
“It’s relaxing, and it gets my mind off things,” said Murphy, whose favorite tune to play is the theme song from the 2016 movie “La La Land” featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
Murphy also is setting the cadence on the pitch for the Doherty soccer team this fall. The junior attacking midfielder leads her team in scoring and has helped the Highlanders to a 5-0-1 start.
“She’s one that’s not really afraid to attack the goal and finish the job,” Doherty coach Chad Binette said. “She stays hungry for it. She’s aggressive, she’s strong, she’s tough. She’s everything you want in a player. She’s got a good soccer IQ, she’s a very fun kid and very fun to coach.”
A defensive midfielder for her FC Stars club team, Murphy is dabbling more on offense with Doherty this season. After scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win over Fitchburg on Sept. 11, Murphy scored four goals a day later in a win over Worcester Tech before netting five scores in a rout of Burncoat last Thursday.
Vote: For the StormWorks girls' soccer player of the week
With her father Owen, mother Kathleen and piano-playing grandmother, who she calls “Nona,” watching at Foley Stadium on Wednesday, Murphy scored two goals and added two assists to lead Doherty to a 4-0 win over Worcester Tech. Through six games, Murphy has hit the right notes with 16 goals and seven assists.
The usually defensive-minded Murphy is enjoying her attacking role with the Highlanders.
“I can be little more creative and have a little more freedom with the ball at my feet,” Murphy said. “It’s definitely something that I have a lot of fun with because I feel like when you’re a little more offensive you can be a little bit more creative. But I also really do love defense, and scoring goals is just as important as making a good tackle or defensive play.”
Following a season in which Murphy was the primary feeder to current Penn State freshman soccer player Nicollette Kiorpes, Murphy has embraced being Doherty’s main source of scoring this year while relying on co-captains Sienna Smith and Elisse Boucher to steer the Highlanders to an undefeated start.
“We definitely have some different talent throughout the whole team,” Murphy said. “Elisse and Sienna — I kind of depend on them, and they’re my fellow captains, and without them back there, I wouldn’t have that much freedom up top.”
Wolves on the attack with Kat Davis
Murphy isn’t the only soccer player in Central Mass. racking up a pile of points this September.
Over at Nashoba, Katerina “Kat” Davis is finding the back of the net at a high clip while leading the Wolves to a perfect start to the season. Across four games, the sophomore forward leads her team with six goals and nine assists.
For Nashoba first-year coach Brian Davis, who has tutored Davis (no relation) since seventh grade, seeing his star forward mature on the pitch and add elements to her game — to go along with her blazing speed — has been a pleasant revelation this fall.
“She has improved tremendously where she’s now more comfortable with the ball at her feet and her decision-making is better,” Brian Davis said. “It adds to that speed portion of her game where she can get in behind people. She can find people in the midfield and other people with her. She’s always looking to get better. She’s just bright and cheerful. Just loves to play.”
Following back-to-back campaigns with losing records, Nashoba (4-0) is looking to attack this season and not play afraid. So far, Kat Davis has delivered on those two aspects from her forward position.
“The team has gotten a lot better this year than we have been in previous years, and I think that the way we are working together on the team is better,” Davis, 15, said. “We’re off to a good start on the season, and I think it’s going to continue in that direction.”
— Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Doherty's Brigid Murphy, Nashoba's Katerina Davis stand out on pitch
