Monomoy Falls To Uxbridge In Division 4 State Final

WORCESTER – The Sharks ran into a buzzsaw in the Division 4 state championship.

One year removed from a double-overtime loss to Uxbridge in the state semifinals, third-seeded Monomoy suffered another season-ending loss to the top-seeded Spartans when the teams met in the state final Saturday at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Sophomore Julianna Casucci recorded two goals and an assist and eighth-grader Ava Rosborough netted two second-half goals to propel Uxbridge to a 4-0 victory over Monomoy for the program’s third straight state title.

“We knew this would be a tough game,” Monomoy field hockey coach Kyle Cappallo said. “Obviously, we came up against a good team. We know what we need to do to get better and try to get back here again.”

Monomoy finished with a 17-3-3 record after finally breaking through to advance to the state final following back-to-back losses in the 2021 and ‘22 semifinals.

The fact the program was able to advance to the final game made the season a success in Cappallo’s eyes.

“I'm very happy about this year,” the second-year coach said. “We set out at the beginning of the year to try to go farther than we did the previous year and we accomplished that goal. We had a strategy all along to get a high ranking so we could get a good seeding in the playoffs. We came through and played strong in the playoffs.”

The Sharks will graduate seniors Susannah Brown and Ana Alexander from this year’s team, with Brown representing the only graduating starter.

“I’ve coached her outside in club for a number of years and I coached her at the school for two,” Cappallo said of Brown. “She was a great captain for us, a great leader — really positive. An extremely hard worker who was clutch for us this year. I think she was probably our leading goal scorer and one of our top three in points. She’s been a huge asset for the underclassmen — she helps the team stay bonded and together, and that’s important.”

Even with Brown’s departure, Monomoy will look to continue to build next fall under a solid nucleus that will include rising seniors Emily Layton and Ella Reeves, rising juniors Sam Clarke and Tessa Grodzicki, rising sophomore Emery Cappallo and rising freshman Madelyn Swett, who handled goaltending duties this fall as an eighth-grader.

“It’s a very young team,” Cappallo said. “Ten of our 15 players are underclassmen. There’s no reason we can’t get back here next year and the year after.”

It helps, Cappallo said, that the field hockey program embraces a culture that makes it stand out at the school.

“It’s probably the most popular sport at Monomoy, which is rare for a lot of schools,” he said. “Uxbridge might be the only other one, Watertown maybe. Most schools, it’s usually football, or basketball is their top sport.”

As disappointing as Saturday’s loss was, it should help set the tone for future seasons and the preparation that is required to complete a deep postseason run.

“Once you get to this level, you know how hard you have to work in-season just to get back here,” Cappallo said. ‘So, this is a great playoff experience. Now that we’ve gotten a taste of this, anything other than [state] finals would be a disappointment for this group.”