Field hockey notebook: Cappallo family all-in at Monomoy

Emery Cappallo knew there was another level she could strive for in her strength and conditioning program last spring.

She was only a few months removed from a standout freshman season that helped a young Monomoy field hockey team reach its first Div. 4 state final, emerging as an elite scorer over the final stretch. The center-midfielder switched to center-forward for the first time in her 10 years playing the sport, so she was already adapting her skill set. Along with it came fitness.

The private strength and conditioning coach she trained with was perfectly fine. But she wanted more, and she knew where to get it.

So, Emery asked her father – Monomoy head coach Kyle Cappallo – to train her instead.

“I’ve seen what he’s accomplished,” she said. “Seeing someone like that, I would like to get trained hard. And I know he definitely does push me as a person, so I think I do definitely gain a lot from training with him.”

Kyle, along with his wife Courtney Cappallo, have coached Emery – now a sophomore – her entire life. They’ve owned Cape Cod Field Hockey Club since 2013, and Emery’s been a year-round player for them on multiple teams since she was 5-years-old.

It’s a point for Kyle and Courtney to let Emery dictate her commitment, just as they did with her older sister. It just so happens that Emery wants as much field hockey as possible, and Kyle and Courtney – who respectively played ice hockey and field hockey at Villanova – know how to coach her.

It isn’t much of a surprise Emery asked Kyle to take over her strength and conditioning, considering she’s already opted to be coached by him before. He was in his first year as Monomoy head coach in 2022 when Emery was an eighth-grader on varsity at Sandwich.

The Blue Knights reached their second straight Div. 3 state final with a young team themselves, but Emery chose to move over to Monomoy for a variety of factors.

Playing for Kyle in the high school season was obviously one, and it’s been the same as it’s always been for the two of them.

“She’s great to work with, she’s one of my favorite players that I’ve coached,” Kyle said. “It’s not that she was having a a bad experience at Sandwich, she just wanted to play for me. And she also had a lot of friends that played for me at Monomoy. … Emery and I enjoy spending time together. We have a lot of fun.”

“Definitely having the support with my dad behind my back (is big) and I’m able to get a high level of coaching,” Emery added. “At Monomoy, it’s definitely been a special experience being coached by my dad. … It’s nice to be coached by (my parents). There’s a lot of trust. I value that.”

Kyle knew the quality of player he was getting, and the quality of worker she is as well.

Inside the family’s house is a room with turf, designed for private training. Any given day, at any given time, Emery will log a couple hours in there on her own to work on her craft. Sometimes even after games.

Kyle felt moving Emery from center-midfielder to the forward line last year would break the team out of a scoring funk, which led to more time on that home turf than ever. She spends that time on her own volition, working any skill she might pick up on watching film, or the various field hockey accounts she follows online.

“I’m just so into the sport,” Emery said. “If I notice there’s something I want to work on, I’ll spend hours on it. … There’s skills I want to improve and I just want to try to be the best that I can be.”

“She’ll be down there on her own until she gets it right because she’s just determined to figure things out,” Kyle added. “As a parent, I’m always very guarded about pushing on her career and leading to burnout. … She takes it on her own to do all this.”

Her impact on the Sharks is significant on a loaded roster that only lost one senior from last year, and is one of the main reasons Monomoy is a favorite to get back to the state final.

With seven hat tricks, Emery is one of the state’s top scorers. She had five hat tricks in the team’s first six games, and has combined with Sam Clarke and Mia Zimmerman to form an elite scoring punch up top.

“She’s got a very good shot and distributes the ball really well,” Kyle said. “She just has a nose for creating scoring chances. … I have a number of people that can score consistently to help the team.”

Add that top line to returning starters Emily Layton, Kate Huse and Sage Harrison in the midfield, as well as Bella Bellefeuille, Tessa Grodzicki, Ella Reeves and Lauren Langelier on defense, and goalie Maddy Swett, and Monomoy has outscored opponents 96-5 in a 15-0-2 record.

Almost all of them play club together in the offseason, too, so the unit is fully in rhythm to make another deep run.

The joy of getting there last year is a great motivator.

“I think it felt great because we put in so much hard work,” Emery said. “That was also the first time that Monomoy had ever made it (that far) in field hockey.”

Chip-ins

Acton-Boxboro has reversed course from an uncharacteristic 0-4 start, rattling off a 6-2-3 mark since to stand out as a potential sleeper. Midfielder Sarah Ryan has drawn praise from opposing coaches, while young goalie tandem Charlotte DeSchepper (sophomore) and Fiona Onken (freshman) have performed well.

After finishing with a 7-10-2 record last year and a 9-9-2 mark the year before, Medfield’s big season reached a new height Friday with a 2-0 win over the Dover-Sherborn team that just upset Bishop Feehan last week. Warriors improved to 11-2-2 to secure the Tri-Valley League Small title.

It’s rare to have the consistency Walpole does as a team, but even rarer to have multiple players deliver the way Kate Schneider and Caitlyn Naughton have. Schneider has a point in every game this year, while Naughton has one in every game but one.