Old friends reconnect at field hockey preseason scrimmage

Bella Fiordalis of Greens Farms Academy of Westport, left, battles for the ball with Canton’s Annabelle Sedor in front of Canton goalie Lyla O’Connor in Tuesday’s scrimmage in Canton. More game photos

Field hockey is a sport that can get into your blood. Some old friends reconnected at a scrimmage Tuesday in preparation for the 2024 high school campaign that begins in a week.

Canton hosted Avon and Greens Farms Academy of Westport in a scrimmage on the turf field on a pleasant, sunny, late summer afternoon.

Avon and Canton are long-time rivals. But what about GFA?

The head coach of GFA is Elizabeth Schuellein, who played on two state championship field hockey teams at Canton in the early 1990s. She was Liz deSimas before she got married.

She played as a wing on the front line under Hall of Fame coach Nancy Grace with Mandy (Murphy) Carlson and Erin (Murphy) Dufresene, who are now assistant coaches on the staff of current Canton High coach Margaret Bristol.

Bristol and Schuellein played together as Springfield College when Bristol was a freshman and Schuellein was a senior.

There were connections with Avon, too. Current Avon High coach Terri Ziemnicki coached against those Canton teams in the 1990s and coached Schuellein, Carlson and Dufresene in the Nutmeg State Games.

Avon, in the white shirts, participated in Tuesday’s scrimmage with Canton and Greens Farms Academy in Canton. More game photos

The officials? Familiar faces, too. Hall of Fame official Deb Martin and her daughter, Whitney, were the two game officials. Whitney was a standout field hockey player at Lewis Mills in her high school days. Deb was inducted into the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

GFA got the better of the play against both teams. The Dragons, a day school in Westport, have the majority of their team back that went to the Class C New England Prep School finals last November.

A year ago, Canton (19-1) advanced to the Class S championship game last November for the first time since 2007 before losing to North Branford. The Warriors have a core of players returning but must replace several starting players.

Avon (8-7-2) is young but they are a hard-working group. They learned plenty of lessons but that is the idea of a scrimmage – teachable moments to build upon.

Avon opens the season on Tuesday, Sept. 3, by hosting Enfield at home while Canton opens the year at Granby on Monday, Sept. 9. GFA opens their season hosting Pomfret on Sept. 14.