Norwalk's Mace finds her college fit close to home

NORWALK -- When the time came for Christine Mace to decide on a new home for the next four years, the opportunity to remain close to her exisiting one proved too enticing to pass up.

That's essentially how Mace, an all-FCIAC forward at Norwalk High the last two seasons, settled on nearby Sacred Heart University as the next destination in her budding field hockey career. She also considered Southern Connecticut State and Bentley but verbally committed to the Division-I Pioneers after considering all the school had to offer.

"I had a couple schools. But I mainly knew what I wanted, that I wanted to be close to home," Mace told The Citizen last Thursday. "It had a fit academically, as well as athletically for me."

Mace said she first got in contact with Sacred Heart a few months ago, just a short time after playing her final field hockey game in a Bears uniform. But she stood out as a potential prospect well before that--last June, in fact--after participating in the College Connection Showcase at the University of Massachusetts. That was when Mace was really noticed.

"They said that my speed and my athleticism could bring me to the Division-I level, and my hard work ethic," Mace said.

Longtime Norwalk head coach Kyle Seaburg, who watched Mace develop from a little-known freshman into an impact player over the last four years, indicated that few players compare with Mace athletically.

"She's one of the best athletes I've coached in my 18 years," Seaburg said.

He added, "She came up her freshman year like three weeks into the season and I never sent her back down. She's just that good of an athlete."

In joining Sacred Heart, which went 6-12 out of the Northeast Conference last season, Mace believes she will have a better opportunity to contribute early on.

"I think it's exciting just going in and being able to play," she said. "Just having that opportunity and having school really fit for me."

"She's going to a great program. One of my former players (Kim Stow) just graduated there. She was a goalie," Seaburg said. "They're very good at building players and getting them just to really take their game to that next level."

Mace, of course, will step into the Pioneers' program--around August or so--off a memorable senior season at Norwalk. She helped lead the Bears to a 10-2-1 record in the regular season and the program's first-ever appearance in the state tournament finals (1-0 loss to No. 1 Cheshire).

Seaburg credited both Mace's leadership as one of the team's three captains and her point guard-like ability to elevate the production of other players around her.

"The role she played off the field as a leader but then also on the field was vital," Seaburg said. "She was an important part. The thing she did throughout her career was make other kids look good, better her teammates on the field. She has a great ability to see the field."

Mace expects the climb to the collegiate level to be another challenge in itself.

"I think it will be a pretty big adjustment," she said, "from really having an impact on this team to almost starting new again and having to work myself up."

In less than four years at Norwalk, Mace has had few troubles in making that climb. She has also doubled up as a high-scoring midfielder for the Bears' girls lacrosse team and earned All-FCIAC honorable mention in 2011. Mace made the decision to forego playing lacrosse in college and stick primarily to one sport mainly due to her love for field hockey. She said she spoke with SCSU about playing lacrosse.

"I liked both sports, field hockey and lacrosse. But when narrowing it down, I liked (field hockey) much more and I couldn't think about giving it up," Mace said.

Before Mace makes her long-awaited climb to Sacred Heart, she knows what she must do to prepare herself.

"I'm just going to work hard this summer and train to get in shape," she said. "But I'll be at my best level when I'm entering the season there."

Training hard is apparently something that Mace is accustomed to.

"She's got talent, but she's also an extremely hard worker," Seaburg added.