Cory Oconnell – Enfield Athletics

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022

Marcotte relishing supporting role for Enfield girls

By Adam Betz / Journal Inquirer

WINDSOR LOCKS — It’d be easy for Megan Marcotte’s ego to get in the way each time she steps onto the court for the Enfield High girls basketball team.

Despite being a varsity starter her entire career with the Eagles, the senior has never been the team’s offensive focal point.

But getting jealous or having a big ego isn’t what Megan Marcotte is about.

“As a young kid, I feel like everybody is like ‘oh, I want to score points,'” Marcotte said. “But as soon as I got to high school, I kind of found my place. I’m a defensive player. I’m not going to be a point scorer, but I’m fine with getting the rebounds, I’m fine with getting the blocks. I’ve never been like ‘I want to score’ because I know I’m not the best option for that.”

Marcotte’s rebounding and blocking prowess were on full display Thursday night.

The 6-foot-1 center didn’t score a point, but grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots as the Eagles topped Windsor Locks 52-41 in a non-league game.

“She does a lot of things that go under the radar,” Enfield coach Jay Gaucher said. “She’s just a hard worker that leads by example and she loves to do the gritty work and stuff like that. She doesn’t care about scoring, she just wants to win. It’s just a true display of who she is.”

Marcotte has been a varsity starter all three of her seasons with the team — she missed her sophomore campaign due to a shoulder injury.

Throughout her tenure, unselfishness has been Marcotte’s calling card. The scoring ability of juniors Alyssa Rossignol and Amyah Rosado, the Eagles’ primary offensive weapons, has made Marcotte all the more willing to give the ball up.

“Having players like that that I’m able to dish the ball to and knowing that they’re reliable is a huge part of the team and why we are so good,” Marcotte said.

While she prides herself on her defense and her distribution, Marcotte said she would make one change to her game if she could start over.

“I definitely would like to work on my offensive side a little bit more,” she said. “Just because I’m so physical on defense, I’d like to apply that over in the post.”

Marcotte said that finishing at the rim is her “biggest weak spot.” She hopes to improve that during her remaining games with the Eagles.

Still, she’s proud of the strides she’s made.

“I feel like I have my emotions a little bit more in check,” Marcotte said. “I’m still an aggressive player, I always will be. But I’m not as talky. I’ll go to the refs instead of the players. My freshman year, I definitely was a little bit crazy.”

Marcotte hopes to continue her playing career in college next year, but she hasn’t decided where. Wherever she does end up, she hopes to major in health sciences.

But that’s the farthest thing from her mind. Right now, she’s focused on the Eagles, who are now 8-1, have won six straight and received votes in this week’s GameTimeCT/New Haven state media poll.

“I think we’re doing pretty well this year,” Marcotte said. “But we always have more to improve on than just what we’re doing right now.”

Defense ruled throughout Thursday’s game — it took two minutes for the first bucket, a putback by Rossignol.

Though they were only able to take the lead once Thursday, the Raiders (4-2) hung with the Eagles throughout the first half.

“When you get to Locks, you know it’s going to be a rock fight,” Gaucher said. “That’s what they want to try to make it. They want to try to grind it down like that.”

Enfield opened the second half on a 14-3 run to push its lead to 38-19.

But Windsor Locks chipped away in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 47-36 thanks to a 13-7 run to start the quarter. But it wouldn’t get closer as Enfield went 5-of-6 from the foul line over the final 1:04 to put the game away.

“I’m extremely proud of us,” Windsor Locks coach Doug Knowe said. “Our team talks about that with our culture, we’re going to fight to the end. Even against a team like that, we were able to execute some things at the end of the game that maybe two, three weeks from now are going to help us.”

Rossignol finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and four steals in the win. Alana Picard paced the Raiders with 19 points and two steals. Teammate Tristin Oberg added eight points, 13 rebounds and two blocks.

Both teams return to the court tonight. Enfield hosts East Catholic while Windsor Locks is at HMTCA.

ENFIELD (52): Rylee Saunders 0 0-0 0; Taylin Byers 1 0-0 2; Madilyn Archer 2 3-9 7; Anjaleah James 0 3-4 3; Alyssa Rossignol 12 7-10 31; Anna Bemiss 0 0-0 0; Taylor Gochee 2 1-2 5; Amyah Rosado 1 2-4 4; Megan Marcotte 0 0-2 0. Totals: 18 16-31 52.

Three-point goals: None.

WINDSOR LOCKS (41): Julia Dufresne 0 0-0 0; Alana Picard 5 9-13 19; Alis Oberg 0 0-0 0; Maeve McGinnis 0 0-0 0; Angelina Jones 2 0-0 5; Carly MacDougald 3 1-4 9; Caroline McGinnis 0 0-0 0; Tristin Oberg 3 2-7 8; Destiny Anderson 0 0-0 0; Lisa Bethel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 11-24 41.

Three-point goals: MacDougald (2), Jones, Picard.

ENFIELD 10 14 16 12 — 52

W. LOCKS 5 11 7 18 — 41

October 15, 2021

Enfield Finds a Winning Combination

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY FROM GAME

ENFIELD — Matt Spruill’s perspective of the Enfield High boys soccer team’s postseason drought was different than the rest of the Eagles.

Since it’s his first season on the team, the senior hasn’t had to endure the disappointment of seeing the season end after the final regular season game.

Spruill won’t have to either. The Eagles have already clinched their first state tournament berth since Enfield and Fermi High merged in 2016.

And knowing that his teammates will finally experience postseason play makes things all the more satisfying for Spruill.

“It means a lot that I’m able to help them do that,” Spruill said following Enfield’s 2-0 CCC East win over Manchester Thursday. “Since it’s my first and only year, that’s now the new standard for them (the underclassmen). They know what they have to do. We knew going in it was going to be a tough season. But we were ready for it, and I think we proved that we’re good enough to make the tournament and go as far as we can.”

The Eagles clinched their berth in the Class LL tournament with Tuesday’s 5-1 win at Platt. For the Enfield High program, it will be its first state tournament appearance since it was part of the NCCC in 2009.

“It was really hard coming in when we merged the schools to build a new culture and build a new program,” coach Tony Allegro said. “The boys have worked extremely hard. But it’s definitely great to have the monkey off our back so to speak. Now we can just focus on playing well and not have that extra added pressure.”

Spruill, who played at Oakwood Soccer Club in Glastonbury and the Connecticut Football Club’s Elite Clubs National League team his first three years of high school, said the team hasn’t felt any pressure in 2021.

But he did say the team has to stay focused for the rest of the season.

“Everyone’s got to lock-in. All the coaches, captains have to really drill it into the players that we’re not satisfied,” the defender/midfielder added. “It’s definitely a challenge, but we’re up for it.”

When asked if this is where he thought the team would be after 10 games, Allegro said that Enfield (6-2-2) “has exceeded my expectations in more ways than one.”

“We thought we’d be a competitive team, but we didn’t think we’d be this solid,” he added.

Allegro, who’s been Enfield’s coach since 2016 after serving as an assistant at Fermi from 2007-2015, said the Eagles have a better defense and stronger team chemistry than in previous years.

But perhaps the biggest difference this year has been the team’s depth.

“In years past, we didn’t have a lot of depth in a lot of positions,” Allegro said. “This year we have the personnel and the kids are putting in the effort.”

Allegro hopes that the team’s success in 2021 will only help that depth in future years.

“Any time you have a successful program, it helps those feeder programs at the youth level,” he said. “Hopefully it’s just a snowball effect and things just get better and better for us.”

Though the Eagles have clinched their state tournament berth, there are still more things on their to-do list in the final five games of the regular season.

“Now we’re focused on winning as many games as possible to get that home game for the first round,” Spruill said. “There would be nothing better than the first states game since 2009 to be in front of a home crowd for the whole town.”

Spruill added that another goal the Eagles have for their remaining regular season games is to capture the CCC East title. Enfield hasn’t won a division title since the merger.

Thursday’s game was the only CCC East game on the schedule. There’s currently a five-way tie at the top of the table as East Catholic, E.O. Smith, RHAM, South Windsor and Tolland are all 2-1-1.

Enfield is third at 1-2-2, followed by Manchester at 1-3-1 and East Hartford at 0-2-2.

The Eagles and the Red Hawks (1-6-4) played a scoreless first half Thursday. But it didn’t take the Eagles long to break through in the second as Traizen Griffith put in a rebound of Antonio Calabrese’s shot 6:57 into the half.

Spruill added an insurance goal 3:33 later, heading the ball in following a cross from Griffith into the penalty area.

The win extends Enfield’s winning streak to four games, its longest since the merger and the longest streak for an Enfield team since it won five straight in 2010.

“Things are starting to click that weren’t clicking in the beginning of the season,” Allegro said. “The kids are working really hard to meet their objectives, to really focus and work on our objectives, on the team and what we need to do to get better.”

Manchester has now been held scoreless in its last eight games. The Red Hawks have only scored twice this season, with both goals coming in a 2-0 win over RHAM Sept. 13.

“We’ve tried different systems and we’ve put a lot on the guys,” coach Jon Cohn said. “They’re trying to do it. They’re trying their best. And as a coach, I want to win for these guys because they’re working so hard and they’re staying together and they’re fighting. We are just sort of lacking that predator that every team has.”

John Bellafronte made five saves for Enfield while Will Slayton stopped four shots for the visitors.

Both teams return to action Tuesday. Enfield hosts Tolland while Manchester heads to South Windsor.

October 7, 2021October 8, 2021

Girls Soccer Works with Hazardville Students.

A note from Coach Kate Battista:

I wanted to share that the Enfield High School girls soccer team went to Hazardville Memorial school this afternoon to provide a brief soccer clinic for the 2nd grade class, as well as to share with them how they can be a student-athlete when they get older. We had done this every year for about 5 years up until COVID interrupted our streak last year, so I was thrilled we had the opportunity to visit again this year. We held it outside for the first time, and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day for some soccer! The 2nd graders and the high school students had so much fun, and we look forward to being able to continue this tradition for years to come.

I would especially like to thank Mrs. Annis for hosting us again and organizing the event. I would also like to thank Mrs. Hunter and Mr. Duperre for welcoming our team to your school and for allowing us to use the fields for our own practice after.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you educators for what you have done for the children in our school system over the past 18 months especially. As someone not employed by the school system other than coaching, I don’t think this situation could have been handled any better. I know how hard it has been from my own profession, so I certainly understand the effort, dedication, and setting aside of your own feelings/anxieties/concerns that it takes. I hope your year is off to a good start and continues in a positive direction.

Go Eagles!

Coach Kate Battista