Perfect Season Continues for Enfield Field Hockey

STORRS, CT — Cookie Bromage has seen just about everything in her 51 years of coaching field hockey at Enfield High School - five state championships, induction into six halls of fame - so one would believe she would be hard-pressed to have any more firsts in her legendary career.

Well, her current squad of Eagles did accomplish a first Wednesday night. By traveling to E.O. Smith High School and posting a 9-0 victory, Enfield completed its regular season schedule with a perfect 16-0 record for the first time in program history.

Two of Bromage's Class M championship teams - 1993 and 1994 - wound up the regular schedule undefeated, but in each of those seasons, Enfield had a tie game.

Any questions about whether the Eagles would become Bromage's first unblemished team were answered in the first 11 minutes Wednesday, when Tori Geaglone and Kaitlyn Bourque each netted a pair of goals to provide an insurmountable 4-0 lead. Goals by Alyssa Haskins and Geaglone gave Enfield a 6-0 advantage at intermission.

In the second half, two goals by Jayonna Montigny and one by Taylor Geaglone polished off an incredible regular season scoring differential of 88-2 over their opponents.

Taylor Geaglone recorded three assists, with Haskins and Mikayla March each earning one.

"Everyone just rose to the occasion," a beaming Bromage said following the contest. "They just kept coming along and jelling together. It's hard to go 16-0; we've had some games with some really good teams, and the kids hung tough and came up with big plays when they had to."

Entering the season, Bromage and assistant coaches Amy Bartholomew and Sarah Pliszka had a few question marks due to losing some key seniors from the 2016 team that went to the Class L semifinals. In particular, subtracting 33 goals tallied by Jessie Maier, now playing at Southern Connecticut State University, had the coaching staff wondering who would pick up that slack.

The answer? Everyone.

"Kaitlyn Bourque got a ton of good goals, Alyssa Haskins stepped up, Jayonna Montigny's picked up some numbers," Bromage said. "Taylor and Tori and Mickey had great production of goals. They all contributed."

Just as important to the team's success is preventing the opposition from scoring, beginning with a solid back line.

"Laurissa Montigny was solid, Anna Labak really came into her own and Lizzie Collins stopped every ball," Bromage said. "They all bought into it."

Enjoying a record-breaking season as the last line of defense in front of the cage is goalkeeper Kelly Mazza.

"She's only given up two goals all year, which is pretty incredible," Bromage said. The school record for fewest goals allowed in a season is three.

Enfield, which was ranked No. 1 in the state in the last three weekly coaches polls, will be the top seed in the Class L state tournament. Pairings will be announced Friday morning.

Photo credit: Kim Bender