Nonnewaug goalie Fiona Scozzafava embracing national spotlight ahead of junior season
Nonnewaug High field hockey junior goalkeeper Fiona Scozzafava is used to playing under pressure – and doing so at a high level.
Scozzafava finds herself on national and regional watch lists entering the fall season. She was one of 32 goalkeepers in the country to compete in USA Field Hockey’s Junior Nexus Championship, which is part of the U.S. women’s national team development program.
Scozzafava is on the National Field Hockey Coaches Association’s watch list. To be nominated, a student-athlete had to have been recognized with one of the following achievements within the previous two years: NFHCA All-Region, NFHCA All-America, All-Conference, All-State, All-League, USA Field Hockey Junior Nexus Championship selection, AAU Junior Olympic Games selection, U.S. national team roster selection, or participation in the Class of 2027 or 2028 MAX Field Hockey Top 150 National Player Invitational.
Scozzafava qualified through her Berkshire League all-star and Connecticut High School Coaches Association Class S All-State honors.
Scozzafava is also on the MAX Field Hockey Top 40 list of Northeast regional high school players to watch. MAX’s Northeast region includes Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.
Being on a watch list is something Scozzafava has dreamed about. She looked for her name as a freshman and sophomore but didn’t see it.
“This time, I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m probably not going to make the list. I’m not even going to look. I’m not going to disappoint myself again,’ and it was my coach and my team who surprised me and told me at the end of practice, ‘You made it,'” Scozzafava said after a Saturday scrimmage at Pomperaug in Southbury. “It was a great feeling.”
“People are posting it and saying congrats, and she’s like, ‘Why are they saying that?’ She’s so good like that,” Nonnewaug coach Janet Crocker said. “It’s pretty special to have her on our team.”
Scozzafava is a clutch player. She stopped all three of Shepaug’s attempts during penalty strokes in the Berkshire League tournament final on Oct. 29, 2025. Nonnewaug won the game and the tournament title.
“That’s my favorite thing, though. Strokes, I love them so much,” Scozzafava said. “Shootouts, I love them so much. There’s always a little part of me that hopes that we end in a tie, that we get to that point. It’s dramatic, but it’s fun.”
Scozzafava, who stands just 5-foot-3, wants that one-on-one pressure.
“She thrives on that. She’s made for it, she loves it, and it hasn’t hurt her at all,” Crocker said. “She loves that, and to be a goalie, you kind of have to thrive under that. To be successful, you have to like that pressure, and she does.”
Nonnewaug had defeated Watertown 1-0 in a BL tournament semifinal. Scozzafava and the Chiefs weren’t done winning in dramatic fashion when they reached the state tournament. The Chiefs, seeded sixth in Class S, played No. 11 Northwest Catholic to a 0-0 tie and won 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 4.
Nonnewaug went to overtime for the fourth straight game in a Class S quarterfinal at third-seeded Canton on Nov. 6. A Sophia Garguilo goal with 1:24 left in the first overtime gave the Chiefs a 1-0 win over the Warriors.
Nonnewaug’s state tournament run ended in a 3-1 loss to eventual champion Immaculate, the No. 2 seed. The Chiefs moved up to Class M this season.
Last fall’s season-ending loss showed Scozzafava where she wants to be.
“This is where we need to be, and we want to play with them,” Scozzafava said. “We want to go into this Class M, where there’s going to be more schools that are like Immaculate, play them tough and come out with a win.”
Scozzafava moved from DELTA Field Hockey in Middlebury to AGH Field Hockey Club in Greenwich. A sport that began as fun has taken her to the national stage.
“In sixth grade, we were playing in gym class, and I was a goalie,” Scozzafava recalled when speaking about her first time playing the sport. “I was shutting everyone down, and I’m like, ‘This is really cool.’ The field hockey team needed a goalie. That’s when I joined, and I loved it.”
Scozzafava was selected to play in the U-16 Junior Nexus Championship in 2025, then was selected to the U-18 team this year. Playing with AGH and competing in the Junior Nexus Championship gives players from Connecticut a chance to show what they can do in front of college coaches. That’s what made getting on the watch lists so gratifying.
“Competing with those girls in the offseason, it’s really great to be in that same realm in high school, too,” Scozzafava said.
Scozzafava smiled as she pointed out where other AGH players had committed to college. There were some big names, including the University of North Carolina and Princeton. Scozzafava attended a Bentley University field hockey camp during the summer of 2025. Now that she’s a junior, she can really start looking at the next level.
Club and high school field hockey require different styles of play.
“It’s definitely two different skill sets that I have to use. When I’m playing with them (club), I don’t get a lot of shots because I’ve got some incredible defenders. Here, I still have incredible defenders, but it’s a little bit more close in, a little less worrying about the faster drives. Two different skills, and it’s great that I get to practice both.”
“We just have to get our skills, get our speed up,” Crocker said. “We know we have the goalie that can help us. Now we just have to get the ball in the cage. We’ve got to be able to score. We know we have that. We’ve got to fill some holes, but we have the girls.
“We have a great team, we have nice girls on the team. We just have to work hard and want it.”
Scozzafava said the state tournament games were the most exciting she has played in, and she wants more of it. A nice thing for her is the connection she has with her Nonnewaug teammates.
“A lot of the girls in my class, they’ve been playing with me since they were in sixth grade, so it’s really good playing with such an experienced team,” Scozzafava said.
Nonnewaug opened its season Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Watertown. Scozzafava made seven saves for the shutout.
This article originally published at Nonnewaug goalie Fiona Scozzafava embracing national spotlight ahead of junior season.