Fourth Consecutive Final Four Appearance Showcases Monomoy Field Hockey Stability

HARWICH – Another season, another state semifinals appearance for the Monomoy field hockey team. 

It has become a trend. 

For the fourth straight year, Monomoy will play with the opportunity to advance to the Division 4 state championship. 

The second-seeded Sharks earned their Division 4 Final Four berth on Friday, when they overcame an early deficit to eke out a 2-1 overtime victory over No. 7 Cohasset in the quarterfinals at Monomoy.

“It was definitely stressful, but it was a good stressful,” said senior Emily Layton, a Harwich native committed to play at the University of New Hampshire. “I think it brought out everyone’s competitive nature. We’re a super competitive team, and we can all come together and use that competitiveness to come out with wins like that. 

“We couldn’t do it without everyone on this team.”

Layton has been a key contributor during Monomoy’s four-year run of excellence alongside fellow seniors Ella Reeves, Cassadi Manchuk and Bella Bellefeuille. 

When they were freshmen, the squad helped the Sharks advance to the Division 4 state semifinals before suffering a 3-2 loss to Ipswich in penalty shots. The next year, the squad returned to the semifinals but suffered a 3-2 double-overtime loss to Uxbridge. 

The Sharks broke through last fall, advancing to the program’s first state championship appearance. But almighty Uxbridge awaited, and the Spartans rolled to a 4-0 win to claim their third consecutive Division 4 state title.

Although Monomoy is hoping this is the year it can break through to capture a state title, the four-year period demonstrates the community’s passion for the sport and the program’s ability to develop talent.

“Division 4 teams are smaller schools, and I believe this district has the largest turnout of any of the field hockey programs on the Cape,” Monomoy’s third-year coach Kyle Cappallo said. “We’ve got two teams at the middle school level, plus JV and varsity — four teams for a rather small student body. 

“There’s a lot of youth that plays a lot of field hockey year-round, and they just keep coming up from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Every year, we’ve had strong players that are young.”

The seniors set the tone from a leadership standpoint, but the Sharks have benefitted from having talent spread across the field. 

Juniors Sam Clarke and Tessa Grodziki have played integral roles during their careers, and sophomores Emery Cappallo and Kate Huse, freshman goalie Maddie Swett, and eighth-grader Mia Zimmerman represent the next generation of players who will look to sustain the success of the program.

“This year, obviously Mia has been huge all season as an eighth-grader,” Cappallo said of Zimmerman, who drew the crucial penalty in overtime that led to Emery Cappallo’s game-winning goal on a penalty stroke.

“That’s the type of grit that she’s going to bring us every time we play, and we’ve come to count on that,” the coach said.

Although they are focused on winning Tuesday’s semifinal against Sutton to secure a return to the state championship, the seniors can’t help but feel gratitude for the magical run they have helped spearhead.

“It’s so special,” Layton said. “I’m really so grateful for all that I’ve experienced through Monomoy field hockey. I really feel like my experience has been the best that it could be. It’s super special to be going to my fourth Final Four.”

 Reeves, a Harwich resident, acknowledged this year’s Final Four might be her last, but it won’t mark the end to the Sharks’ annual success.

“I think the expectations are high,” said Reeves. “We should make it to the championship every single year. The program is young, and I think they are going to keep it going even once we graduate.”