Fiona Doherty returns to Ballard, joining Salmon Bay FC
By Charles Hamaker
Interbay, WA - Three matches into their inaugural season and sitting second in the USL W League’s Northwest division currently, Salmon Bay FC has added another local to their roster with the addition of midfielder Fiona Doherty. Doherty returns to a very familiar area, as she’ll play just a few minutes away from a familiar venue, Ballard High School. After her time with the Ballard Beavers, Doherty went on to continue her soccer career to the professional level as she ventured to Greece where she played with with Doxa 2016 and then Panathinaikos most recently. That sort of professional experience makes her another intriguing option for this Salmon Bay roster, a group that’s already loaded with local talent and looking to make noise in their inaugural season.
Doherty really took her game to the next level during her time at Vermont, with that collegiate career with the Catamounts primarily taking off during her Junior and Senior seasons saw her start nearly ever match before an even more impressive year as a graduate student where she did start every match. Her senior season saw her impressive rise continue as she earned the ability to log 90 minutes or more on six different occasions. That graduate student season saw her natural progression throughout her time at Vermont hit another growth point as Doherty scored a career-high two points alongside two assists with a career-high six total points, which includes registering a game winning goal against UMBC.
Ballard ties
Doherty is going to be very familiar with the area as mentioned previously, having been named as a team captain during her time with the Ballard Beavers while also lettering in track. Doherty joins goalkeeper Elena Milam as the two Ballard High School graduates on the inaugural Salmon Bay FC roster, and the two should’ve shared the Ballard High School hallways at the same time.
Adding to a crowded midfield
Doherty has some strong experience under her belt as we’ve already mentioned, but that doesn’t mean that she’ll be handed playing time right away considering the competition in the midfield for Salmon Bay FC. Names like Amelia Severn, the Dockter sisters, Chloe
Seelhoff, and Milly Bray headline a very strong group in the midfield for this Salmon Bay inaugural roster. In fact, three of those Salmon Bay midfielders scored goals in the clubs blowout victory over Bigfoot FC. It’s going to be a fascinating journey to watch how the coaching staff will handle the entirety of playing time throughout the roster, but obviously in this regard it’ll be fascinating to keep an eye on the middle of this lineup and how the professional experience that Doherty possesses can affect that.
What’s next?
Following the announcement of Doherty’s addition to the roster, Salmon Bay FC is looking ahead to their fourth match of their inaugural season when they battle Lane United FC for the first time ever. The next match for the club is the first of two consecutive matches against Lane United FC, as the Salmon Bay will host a home match against the Oregon based club after travelling just south for the first of the two. That upcoming road match against Lane United FC comes on Tuesday, June 10th with a kickoff time of 7PM PDT. That match will be on Sportsengineplay, where all of their matches have been broadcast so far this season, and the specific link for that match can be clicked here. It’s a match between the second (Salmon Bay) and third (Lane United) teams in the Northwest division, and considering the fact that only one team from the division makes the postseason, every match is critical and especially ones against those battling you for spots atop the Northwest division. Lane United is coming off a 3-2 victory over Bigfoot FC, and Salmon Bay is coming off a 6-0 thrashing of that same Bigfoot FC team.
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Check out our previous Salmon Bay FC articles here.
Cover photo provided by Brian Foley of Vermont Women’s Soccer.
Check out previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.
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