University of Maine sophomore field hockey forward Mallory Mackesy is having a terrific season.
She is second in the country in points per game (2.88) among players from 77 Division I schools and is tied for third in goals per game with 1.25.
She is the reigning America East Player of the Week after notching four goals and two assists in wins over the University of California Davis (2-0) and Stanford (5-4 in double overtime) last weekend. She played a role in six of the seven goals.
But what makes her accomplishment even more impressive is the fact this is just her third season devoting herself to field hockey, having previously also played ice hockey and even considering trying to compete in both at the collegiate level.
Mackesy had been a very good soccer goalkeeper and a prolific-scoring ice hockey forward growing up in her native Stony Brook, Ontario.
“But I had more opportunities to play for Canada in field hockey,” said Mackesy, who competes on the Canadian Junior and Senior national teams. “And my end goal is to play in the Olympics.”
However, she admitted that playing both field hockey and ice hockey in college crossed her mind.
“But it got complicated with school and my wanting to play for team Canada so I went all-in on field hockey,” she said.
Mackesy came to UMaine in January 2022 as a 17-year-old. She practiced and played with the team during the spring season while acclimating herself to her coaches, teammates, academics and the area.
She was the team’s third-leading scorer last fall with 25 points in 19 games on 11 goals and 3 assists. She was chosen to the All-America East Rookie Team.
This season, Mackesy has 10 goals and 3 assists in eight games. Players receive two points for a goal and one for an assist.
Her game has gone to a new level thanks to her summer spent in Vancouver, British Columbia, training with the Canadian Senior National Team. Canada had a new head coach in Danny Kerry and assistant in Kate Richardson-Walsh.
Kerry led Great Britain to an Olympic bronze medal in 2012 and a gold medal in 2016 and Richardson-Walsh played on both of those teams, captaining the 2016 team.
“I was able to learn from those great, high-level coaches all summer long and playing with older girls with a lot of experience really helped my [field hockey] IQ and level of play,” Mackesy said. “It challenged me. I was going up against girls who were 10 to 15 years older than me. It helped my confidence a lot.”
That experience was invaluable as Mackesy is still so “raw” at field hockey, she said, adding that she was scared to ask for the ball last year or take the big shot because she wasn’t confident in her abilities.
“But training three hours a day this summer and doing extra strength training is paying off. I know I have the skills and I’m trusting my abilities,” said Mackesy, who stands 5-foot-11.
“She is a natural goal scorer,” said UMaine head field hockey coach Josette Babineau. “She has great hands and good speed for someone her size. And I really like her athleticism. She is a good all-around athlete.”
Babineau called Mackesy’s two-goal, two-assist performance in the 5-4 double overtime win over Stanford one of the “most impressive individual performances I’ve ever seen from one of my players.”
Mackesy played in a few tournaments as a freshman in high school before dropping the sport in favor of soccer and ice hockey for two years before returning to it as a senior.
One of those tournaments her freshman year was in Tampa, which is where Babineau first saw Mackesy. Babineau saw Mackesy again years later.
“I saw that she had natural ability around the goal. [Goal scoring] is a skill you can develop but it’s better when they already have natural ability,” Babineau said.
Mackesy credits her soccer and ice hockey backgrounds with providing that instinct, as they taught her how goalkeepers think and how to exploit their weak side.
Babineau promoted Mackesy to the defensive corner unit this season.
“I’m very grateful for that. They have a lot of trust in me to do my role. It puts a lot of pressure on me sometimes but I love to rise to a challenge. My defense has gotten a lot better but you can always work harder on something,” said Mackesy.
The Black Bears are 4-4 overall, 2-0 in the conference, entering Friday’s 3 p.m. home game against America East rival UMass Lowell (5-2, 0-0).
Mackesy is happy with the team’s start.
“We’re starting to click. We lost some key players off last year’s team but we can still be the team that we were or be even better,” she said.