Dougherty had endured the one-two punch 17 times back on March 20 when the undefeated Syracuse University men's lacrosse team strolled onto Hopkins' Homewood Field and got rudely rolled 17-5.

"We thought we were right at their level, and it seemed like a lot of people in the lacrosse world felt like that, too," Dougherty recalled, "and then all of a sudden we got smoked. That's how we used to get beat at Henninger by West Genny back in the day."

Saturday afternoon, the Syracuse native played a huge role in taking the pep out of the band and ending the bothersome chant for another season. The fifth-year senior midfielder scored a career-high five goals to lead the fourth-seeded Orange to a 15-9 victory over top-ranked Hopkins.

"I've never beaten Hopkinsbefore in my life," said Dougherty, the Corcoran High graduate who returned home to play at SU for his final season of eligibility after graduating from Hofstra last spring. "It's great, especially after the shellacking we took earlier in the season. It's great to show we could bounce back, that we do have a great team and are not going to take a back seat to anybody in the country."

Thanks to Dougherty, the Orange (14-2) was in the driver's seat pretty much from start to finish against the Blue Jays, a team Princeton coach Bill Tierney said possessed the most talent in the country "by far."

He beat Hopkins goaltender Scott Smith three times in the first half to spark SU to a 6-5 lead, then added a pair in the second when SU took charge. One of them gave SU the lead for keeps at 9-8; the other one made it 13-9 midway through the final quarter and served notice that an upset was inevitable.

There were otherSU heroes, for sure. Freshman Danny Brennan controlled the faceoff X, senior Brian Nee scored four goals and SU's close defense confused the Blue Jays (13-2) the entire game with a variety of sets, helping SU reach its fifth title game in the last six years.

Yet, nobody played a bigger role than Dougherty, who will be playing in his first championship.

"He looked like he's been here for all five, didn't he?" said SU assistant coach Kevin Donahue, who mentors the middies. "He's a good player, and he's a cool cat out there. It was his day. He was tremendous."

Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala agreed.

"His game was exceptional," said Pietramala, his voice choked with emotion after leading his alma mater to its third consecutive final-four appearance but failing to capture its first national title since 1987, when he was an All-American defenseman.

Dougherty appreciated the kind words but failed to see it that way.

"It's a lot of other guys on our team who are going to be focused on by other teams," he said. "I think what makes our offense so great is that you can't forget about anyone. It's knowing that you're playing with five other great lacrosse players. You know somebody is going to have a great game. And it could be anybody, any day."

Saturday, with Hopkins' close defense sagging close to the cage to shut off superstar attackman Mike Powell and the Jays' putting a long pole on star midfielder Sean Lindsay, Dougherty sensed early that he was going to get one-on-one coverage from a short stick. He discovered that the rest of the JHU defense was too preoccupied with his talented teammates to offer any support.

"They weren't putting a lot of pressure on us (other midfielders)," Dougherty said. "Our offense was just clicking."

Dougherty said he felt that all week in practice. He said the offense was so good there that any psychological damage inflicted by the 12-goal regular-season loss to the Blue Jays was cured by game time.

"People were askingus how it felt to be the underdog, but I didn't feel like we were an underdog," Dougherty said. "It just felt that we were playing with so much confidence. Coach Donahue was telling us all week we were going to do well. It just never really seemed that anybody thought we were going to get beat. It says a lot about the expectations and tradition of this team."

Saturday, in front of the biggest crowd to ever witness a college lacrosse doubleheader, Dougherty helped add a new chapter to that tradition. A guy who "did my job" by scoring 16 goals during the previous 15 games, hit the jackpot with five in SU's biggest game of the season.

And in the process he silenced the Hopkins band and ended "that annoying chant."

© 2004 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.