ND-Fairfield focused on future, not ‘what-ifs?’
FAIRFIELD — None of them have and all three Notre Dame Fairfield seniors want it badly.
“I have seen people play there,” Kayla Tilus said. “It’s my dream.”
“Been there,” Aizhanique Mayo said.
Ever dribbled a ball or taken a shot there?
“No, no,” Mayo said. “Never.”
“Playing there would be amazing,” Sara Macary said. “We have the capability.”
No one doubts Notre Dame girls basketball team’s capability to get to the CIAC Class L championship at Mohegan Sun in March.
Notre Dame could have won the state title in 2020. And 2021.
Considered again the most talented team in Connecticut, in ordinary times Notre Dame could be poised for a three-peat.
These are not ordinary times.
The Run To The Sun has become The Run Into COVID.
The best weekend on the state’s athletic calendar remains a date that fate has continually broken with Maria Conlon’s team. A potential dynasty robbed by a masked virus.
“The past is the past,” Conlon said. “People say to me all the time, ‘You should be going for a three-peat.’ Who knows? I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on what we can do to get better next game.
“From there, we’ll roll the dice like everyone else.”
Psychoanalysts might call the previous sentence a Freudian casino slip.
“Last year, we knew coming in we weren’t going to have a postseason so that was a little different,” said Conlon, who became head coach five months before COVID hit. “It was really hard getting kids motivated at times to put full effort every day, knowing ‘what are we doing this for?’ I do think we did a good job of channeling all that to get better as humans, teammates, friends and players.
“This year, I’m hoping for some semblance of a postseason. If we all do the