Anyone who looks at what the Tigers have done under the leadership of Coach Missy Doherty can see that the program has changed in just a short time. With two Colonial Athletic Association championships and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers have become one of the top teams in the CAA in just five seasons.

The Tigers have qualified for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament in four of Doherty’s five seasons while winning a pair of CAA championships in the last four years. The conference titles also provided the Tigers with the first NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.

In addition, Doherty has coached three of Towson’s four All-America selections during the last four years, including senior midfielder Hillary Fratzke, who became the first player in school history to earn first team honors when she accomplished the feat last year.

The Tigers arguably had one of the best seasons in school history last year when they finished with a 13-6 record and claimed their second CAA title in four years. After finishing with a share of the regular season CAA title, the 15th-ranked Tigers beat the two CAA teams they had lost to during the regular season in the CAA Tournament, including a stunning 8-7 victory over George Mason in the semi-finals.

In addition to Fratzke earning first team All-American accolades, the Tigers had three players earn All-Region notice along with three players being named All-CAA. Fratzke also became the first Tiger women’s lacrosse player to be named as the CAA Player of the Year last season.

Doherty led the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005 as Towson won its first CAA title with a 13-6 record, including a 5-2 mark in CAA regular season play. In addition to the team’s success, several individual players were honored for their play as goalkeeper Mandy Corry was named as the league’s Rookie of the Year and selected to the All-CAA second team while four other players were honored with All-CAA status.

During Doherty’s inaugural season, the Tigers set a school record with 14 wins and earned their first winning record since the 1997 campaign, snapping a streak of six straight losing seasons. Towson earned the number two seed in the CAA Tournament, its first appearance in the conference playoffs since 1999 when the Tigers were members of the AMERICA EAST Conference.

In addition to the school-record 14 wins, the Tigers were honored with a ranking in the national polls for the first time since 1997, earning a number 17 ranking. Towson was ranked as high as 16th during the season before ending the campaign as the 18th-ranked team in NCAA Division I.

Doherty has not only helped the Tigers become a successful lacrosse program, but she has also helped the Towson athletic program improve its academic success. She helped to develop the Faculty Fellows program at Towson, which pairs a member of the University faculty with an athletic team and helps to develop healthy relationships between faculty and student-athletes.

In addition, the Tigers have been honored by the IWLCA for their academic success in each of the last three years.

The ninth head coach in Tiger lacrosse history, Doherty has also helped Towson improve its community service efforts as the team has been involved with clinics at the Community College of Baltimore County-Essex in addition to working phone-a-thons for U.S. Lacrosse. During the past five years, the Tigers have participated in the Diane Geppi-Aikens Memorial Run at Loyola College, which takes place every September in honor of the Greyhounds’ late coach. 

Doherty came to Towson following a successful six-year stint as an assistant coach at three different schools. She was a key member of the Princeton University coaching staff during the Tigers’ NCAA Championship seasons in 2002 and 2003. Princeton had a record of 49-9 and won three consecutive Ivy League titles during Holmes’ tenure.

Before her time at Princeton, Doherty coached for two seasons at Brown University after starting her coaching career at Vanderbilt University during the 1998 season.

A 1997 graduate of the University of Maryland, Doherty was a four-year performer on defense and helped the Terrapins win three NCAA titles during her career. During her playing career, Maryland compiled a 68-2 record, including an NCAA-record 50-game winning streak. Doherty was also a three-time selection to the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll.

The former Missy Holmes, she married Brian Doherty on December 9, 2006. The couple had their first son, Evan William, on September 8, 2007.