Mallory Hasselbeck stays home with Boston College commitment
WESTON, Mass. (BVM) — It didn’t take long for Rivers School senior and No. 1-ranked girls lacrosse senior Mallory Hasselbeck to make an impact when she first stepped on the lacrosse field.
Traveling to Massachusetts from Indiana when she was in middle school, Hasselbeck would catch the eyes of coaches quickly.
“I actually met Mallory, I want to say when she was in seventh grade when I coached for Mass Elite and Mallory and her sister, Annabelle, were coming up for practices from Indianapolis,” Rivers girls lacrosse coach Lisa Parsons said. “She was one of the most athletic kids on the field, but didn’t have the stick work that some of the New England kids had. I would say fast forward a year later to Rivers as an eighth grader, she was the only eighth grader on our varsity team and [she] started and played every minute of every game.”
Even though Mallory came into the game with a raw skillset, her work ethic has taken her game to the next level.
“Definitely living up in Boston, being surrounded by high level competition, has helped me a lot,” Mallory said. “I owe it all to Indiana just getting me started. Really that’s when I fell in love with the game, just the first time I got a stick in my hand.”
“By her sophomore year, she led our league in assists, as a tenth grader, she was second on the team in points,” Parsons said. “I think she was one of the top three [players] in draw controls. She is a dominant force and that is just from sheer hard work. She knows the 10,000 hour rule. She wanted to make herself the best she could be.”
Growing up in atypical lacrosse hotspots like Nashville and Indianapolis, it may have seemed like a long shot for Mallory to take so adamantly to the growing sport. As the family followed their patriarch and former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to his different NFL jobs, the two sisters would come across their new found passion.
“I picked up the sport when we were living in Indiana and I was in fifth or sixth grade at that time,” Mallory said. “Really, I was looking for a spring sport to play there. I was a big basketball player, soccer player, but I was looking for a spring sport to play and my older sister had picked it up, so I just kind of followed her lead.”
Growing up, the two sisters made sure to push each other in whatever sport they were playing. Mallory attributes her work ethic to the time her siblings have put into playing different sports.
“I’ve definitely built on it,” Mallory said when talking about where her work ethic comes from. “My sister is easily one of the hardest workers I know, so I think that she, along with my parents and all of my coaches, set a good example. Really, my sister was the one that said, ‘Hey let’s go play some wall ball. Hey let’s do this. Hey let’s go shoot. Let’s go for a run.’ So, I think she really set the bar high for me and showed me what it takes to play at the next level and how to be great. I really owe it all to her.”
Recently Mallory followed in her family’s footsteps by committing to Boston College, where both her mother and father played collegiate sports. With the decision, Mallory will join Annabelle on the Eagles women’s lacrosse team next season.
“It’s such an honor and I’m just so thankful that I get to play with my sister at BC,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s so much fun playing with her, she’s my best friend. Our family is definitely very competitive, but in a fun way. We push each other harder, if one of us is going outside then the next one will be right behind them. [It] just kind of keeps us all on top of our game and we push each other to be better, which is great.”
With her college decision behind her, Hasselbeck had hoped to cap off her senior year on a high note. Unfortunately, she would sustain an injury during the Under Armour All-American lacrosse game, tearing her MCL, ACL, and meniscus.
“I was fortunate enough because when you tear your ACL, you have to wait a good amount of time, four to six weeks is what they say, just to get the swelling out and get your motion back,” Hasselbeck said. “So, in that time I ‘prehabbed,’ and I was able to heal my MCL. So they only had to do surgery on my ACL and meniscus, which I was super thankful for. Now I’m six weeks out of surgery… but [I’m] definitely playing a ton of wall ball, just trying to keep a stick in my hand and control what I can control.”
Like her sister last year, Mallory will miss her senior season for all three sports she plays — ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse. Even with the blow, the Rivers senior is trying her best to make an impact from the sidelines.
“Definitely a huge bummer, but just trying to find the positives,” Hasselbeck said when talking about missing her senior season. “Whether it’s playing music during practice or just giving the pregame speeches, [I’m] just trying to be positive and still be a part of the team as much as I can.”
When it comes to her future, her coach doesn’t see anything that can stop her at the next level.
“The sky is the limit, she’s going to have fantastic role models… Her game will continue to grow as she continues to play with other great players,” Parsons said.
