Unbeaten Monomoy Field Hockey Rolls Into Finale

HARWICH – The Monomoy field hockey team is heading back to the Division 4 state tournament with momentum. 

Fueled by its 4-0 loss to Uxbridge in last year’s state championship, Monomoy has cruised through the bulk of its regular season with a 15-0-2 record. 

Although the Sharks have one regular season game remaining — against Wachusett at 6:15 p.m. Friday in Harwich — head coach Kyle Cappallo said he believes his team is primed for another deep postseason run.

“I think we’re in a good place,” Cappallo said. “Playoffs are always the time where the schedule gets a little lighter in terms of the frequency of games, so we can spend more time really working on our strategy and how we want to approach things. We’re able to look at game film and assess our opportunities and our weaknesses and prepare ourselves for our matchups.”

Wachusett (6-7-3) will provide a formidable — and foreign — opponent for the Sharks’ final test of the regular season. 

“We’re going to have to come in prepared,” Cappallo said. “We’ve never played them before, but they are a strong team and have some good players. It’s nice to have four days to prepare where we can focus on some of the things we feel we need to correct going into playoffs.”

Sophomore Emery Cappallo tallied four goals and an assist, eighth-grader Mia Zimmerman registered two goals and an assist, and junior Sam Clarke (2 goals) and senior Ella Reeves (1 goal, 1 assist) also contributed to the scoring in Monomoy’s lopsided 9-1 victory over Martha’s Vineyard on Friday. 

Senior Emily Layton, who is committed to play at the University of New Hampshire next fall, tallied three assists in the win to reach 100 career points.

“She’s a huge piece in the center-midfield position,” Cappallo said of Layton. “Having someone back there that you feel confident with that can handle controlling the pace of play and control the ball during free hit opportunities gives the forwards the confidence that they can take risks because they know they have her in the center-midfield position to create turnovers and get the ball back. 

“I think not having her in that spot would probably change the dynamic we have on the field.”

Cappallo credited Layton, junior Tessa Grodzicki and sophomores Kate Huse and Sage Harrison for anchoring the midfield. 

“That’s a pretty strong group of four that can control possession and neutralize opposing teams’ fast players,” the coach said. 

While the Sharks have proven they can score in bunches to outlast opponents, Cappallo said the defense, led by senior captains Ella Reeves and Bella Bellefeuille in front of freshman goalie Maddie Swett, will be the key during the postseason. 

“Defense wins these games,” he said. “When you have a really strong defensive strategy when you don’t have the ball, you’re able to create turnovers for yourself and put the ball back in your possession. If we possess the ball the majority of the minutes of a game, we believe we’re going to win that game.”

The Sharks currently sit at No. 2 in the MIAA Division 4 Power Rankings behind only Uxbridge. Although Cappallo said the Sharks have kept an eye on the rankings to see where they stand for postseason seeding, the coach is much more concerned about his team’s progress and development. 

“We believe we can finish out the regular season with a final win and we believe that gives us a really good seeding, regardless of where it is,” he said. “We’d rather have the higher ranking so we can have home field advantage during the first few rounds, but we aren’t too fixated [on the rankings]. 

“The only thing we can control is how we execute our game plan.”