Sophomore Mallory Mackesy, the University of Maine field hockey team’s leading scorer this past fall, has left the program according to head coach Josette Babineau.
Babineau said she wasn’t at liberty to discuss the reason for the departure because it is a personnel matter.
Mackesy scored 12 goals and assisted on eight others for 32 points in 20 games.
She was chosen to the All-America East second team.
She had been selected to the All-Rookie team in 2022, when she registered 11 goals and 3 assists in 19 games. She was third on the team in scoring and tied for second in goals scored.
The Stony Creek, Ontario native went on to play for Canada in the World Junior National team championships in Santiago, Chile last November.
“She had a great season,” said Babineau. “She didn’t have a lot of experience in the sport when she came to Maine. She has a lot of natural ability.”
The Black Bears finished the season with an uncharacteristic 8-12 record overall, 3-5 in the conference.
They upset New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime in the conference quarterfinals but got thumped by Albany, 8-1, in the semifinals.
In 2022, they went 14-5 overall and won the regular season title with an 8-0 conference slate.
Babineau said in trying to replace Mackesy, “we have had some success in the transfer portal. This is the first time for us being able to go in that direction and get some players who have already graduated and are looking to get a graduate degree.”
In addition to losing Mackesy, second-leading scorer Tereza Holubcova (5 goals, 7 assists) informed Babineau she won’t return for a fifth season.
But the next five-point-producers are back-led by center back Poppy Lambert, a three-time All-America East selection who was a second teamer last fall when she had five goals and three assists. She earned an All-Region second team spot after being a first team pick in 2022 when she scored 22 goals.
Saylor Kuefler had 5 & 2 last fall to earn a spot on the All-Rookie team.
Sophomore Kate Richardson (3 & 1) was named to the America East all-tourney team along with Lambert.
Freshman Brynn Dzengelewski (2 & 2) was the team’s sixth-leading scorer followed by Skowhegan senior Bhreagh Kennedy (1 & 3).
Babineau said the loss of 2021 America East Goalkeeper of the Year Mia Borley and 2022 America East Offensive Player of the Year and third team All-American forward Chloe Walton had a definite impact on last fall’s performance.
“We want to be consistent. We don’t want to be a team that has up-and-down years. We don’t have any excuses for not being able to do that,” said Babineau. “But we did lack experience in those two areas.
“And that makes a difference in close games,” she added.
The Black Bears lost seven games by two goals or less, including four by one goal.
“We feel pretty positive about our incoming class,” said Babineau, who guided the Black Bears to their first ever America East tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2021. “We have quite a few defenders and midfielders coming in. And our current players have been working really hard in the offseason.
“We’ve been trying to develop our forward line and some depth in the midfield,” said Babineau. “We had to play a different style last year because we didn’t have the depth we needed.
“We want to go back to playing an aggressive, fast-paced game,” said Babineau. “We have been working hard on our physical fitness and on getting stronger. The growth and development of our (current) freshmen and sophomores is going to be important to our success.”
