Sushi, Nauset Coach’s Golden Retriever Who Attended Girls Lacrosse Practices And Games, Dies At 11

NORTH EASTHAM – Sushi the golden retriever loved food and swimming. She was independent, liked walks and had a mini goldendoodle a third of her size named Gigi as a best friend.

Chances are the one person who watched more Nauset girls lacrosse than Sushi over the last decade was her owner Heather Stevens, who’s coached the program for more than 20 years. For 11 of those, Sushi joined her at every practice and home game.

Sushi died this past June after a three-year bout with cancer. For seven years, Sushi was a therapy dog at Nauset Regional High School. But since Stevens had first picked her up as a two-month-old puppy from Chatham, Sushi was always at lacrosse.

“She'd hang on the turf,” Stevens said. “She'd be on the sideline with the girls, and she really took to that. The girls really loved having her there.”

When Sushi (who was born across the street from Bluefins Sushi and Sake Bar in Chatham, hence her name) was young, Stevens put her in multiple obedience and training classes, which culminated with a therapy dog course. She passed, and Stevens — who teaches physical education at Nauset — began to integrate Sushi into the high school. Sushi was 4.

Mostly, Sushi shadowed Stevens to her classes. If Stevens had yoga, Sushi attended yoga. If she had physical education, Sushi joined for physical education. For fitness classes, Sushi would be there in the fitness center.

She’d accompany the students for laps on the track. Or she’d do one lap and wait out the rest at a bench. Then she’d trot over to the turf field. If the surface became too hot, Sushi stuck by the athletic facility’s ticket booth, where kids would come over to hang out with her. She’d also sometimes get called over to the guidance department or elsewhere.

“She really settled in, and she really was awesome at school,” Stevens said.

During lacrosse season, Sushi put in 12-hour days at Nauset with Stevens. They’d get to campus at 7:30 a.m. and not leave until after practices and games. She’d stay right by the home sideline in front of the bleachers, as much a part of the natural gameday ecosystem as the scorer’s table or the referees. 

At practices, Sushi — mostly when she was younger — would sometimes run around (the “zoomies,” as they’re called in pet parlance). What she really liked though was chewing the cones.

“That was her thing, she’d eat the cones,” Stevens said. “Sometimes she would play with the balls a little bit, but she was definitely more into the cones.”

Sushi had small cell lymphoma. For three years, she was on chemotherapy pills. Over that span, Stevens would bring her to Bourne for blood tests and checkups, first monthly, later every other month. 

Even so, the longtime coach and her golden retriever would always make it back for school days and lacrosse, Sushi quietly battling on the inside as she lay by the Warriors’ end of the field.

“Just having her there, if kids are having a bad day or something like that, was just comforting,” Stevens said. “I had a lot of players that [were] kind of introverts, and they really enjoyed having her there, and in class, too.”

Sushi loved any kind of treat. At least three different classrooms at Nauset had Milk Bones for her. She’d go to the life skills room, where the students with special needs loved to provide them. The athletic department similarly kept a stash. The kids knew where to find Sushi, and she knew where to find the treats. She had her own school ID card.

That love for food made it all the more alarming when Sushi stopped eating. Throughout June, she received various cancer treatments — injections and pills, steroids and antibodies and anti-nausea medications. By the end of the month, she could barely get up on her own. She couldn’t walk on her own. She died June 29. It was the last day of the school year.

“Oddly symbolic,” Stevens said.

The period since Sushi died has, for Stevens, felt weird. She’s getting used to the routine with Sushi not being here. Returning later this year to school, where Sushi will no longer join her every single day, will be a difficult milepost.

“That'll be really hard, because all her stuff is still there,” Stevens said.

Lacrosse season, meanwhile, is eight months away. The community at Nauset, if they haven’t already, will feel the absence. So too will even the Warriors’ opposition (other teams would flock over to Sushi and come by to meet and talk to her after games).

There’ll be a big, dark beige dog missing from her usual spot on the turf when the girls lacrosse team takes the field at Nauset for the first time in 2027.

“I just really want her to be remembered,” Stevens said.