10th Annual Memorial Field Hockey Benefit Scheduled In Enfield

ENFIELD, CT — High school field hockey teams from four New England states will converge on Enfield High School next weekend to honor one of Enfield's most beloved and accomplished athletes, teachers, coaches and citizens.

The 10th annual Amy Romano Memorial Field Hockey Scrimmage will be played Sunday, Sept. 1 beginning at 10 a.m. Eighteen teams representing 13 high schools from throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire will each play four 20-minute games - three on half-size turf fields in a 7 vs. 7 format, and one on a full-size grass field, 11 vs. 11.

Amy Romano was a three-sport standout at Enrico Fermi High School in Enfield, earning All-State honors in both field hockey and softball. She continued to play both sports at Assumption College, making the All-Northeast Region field hockey team three times and compiling 40 victories as a softball pitcher.

After college, she became a beloved teacher in the Enfield school system, and coached field hockey at her alma mater, Fermi. She was inducted into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997, a year after her dad, Tony, was enshrined. She is also a member of the Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame and the Assumption College Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Amy passed away suddenly in January 2007 at the young age of 40. Later that year, the Hall of Fame created the Amy Romano Memorial Scholarship; a $1,000 scholarship is presented to a deserving Enfield High School student-athlete annually in her memory.

Beginning in 2009, the field hockey scrimmage day was established in her name. Team entry fees provide funding for the memorial scholarship.

A ceremony honoring Romano's life and legacy, involving members of her family, begins at 10 a.m. Competition starts at 10:15.

Enfield, which has two teams entered, is slated to play its first contest at 10:40 a.m. Other Connecticut schools scheduled to participate are Granby Memorial (2 teams), Haddam-Killingworth, Hall, Mercy, Newtown, Suffield, Thomaston and Woodstock Academy. Entries from Massachusetts are Longmeadow (2) and Minnechaug Regional (2), while Keene will be coming from New Hampshire and East Greenwich, R.I. (2 teams) represents the initial entry of the Ocean State into the field.

There is no admission charge to attend the event; however, free will donations to the scholarship fund will be accepted. A concession stand will be operated by the Enfield field hockey parents.