Finally Healthy, Maggi Hall Broke Out Like Everyone Knew She Could

Maggi Hall wasn’t drafted into Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse, but she received a tryout invitation to the women’s professional league on her birthday in June.

“When I got that e-mail, I immediately started bawling,” Hall said. “I was with my mom when I found out. It was a pretty amazing moment for me because I was like, ‘Wow, I still get to play the game that I love, and it’s not over.’”

Hall went on to make the Athletes Unlimited roster and finished the summer 23rd on the individual leaderboard in her rookie season on the strength of 25 goals and 11 assists. It’s an opportunity the lefty attacker never would have had if it weren’t for her breakout spring at Florida, which came after finally getting healthy.

“My senior season was everything to getting me drafted,” Hall said. “I never would have been invited to play based off my first three years.”

But her fourth year was record-setting. Hall helped soften the transfer loss of Emma LoPinto with her breakout season. She posted career highs of 65 goals and 54 assists while leading unseeded Florida to its second NCAA tournament semifinal appearance in program history. Her 119 points led the country, the first Gators player ever to pace the nation.

It earned her a nomination for Best Breakout in USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Best of Lacrosse 2024 campaign. Voting is now open and closes Sunday, Dec. 15.

“It’s an incredible accomplishment given the elite attackers that were on the field last year,” Florida coach Amanda O’Leary said. “The Izzy Scanes, the Erin Coykendalls, the list goes on and on. The best of the best out there, and she led that group. That just says something about her and the work that she put in. I think she’s definitely a special player.”

Hall was, by plenty of coaches’ standards, very good over her first three seasons with the Gators. She started as a freshman and immediately showed her passing prowess with 20 assists, which placed second on the team. She didn’t start as many games during her sophomore season (a red flag that she wasn’t healthy), yet she was still third in goals and fourth in points. Her 47 goals and 36 assists were admirable, and she finished seventh in the country in shooting percentage and earned first-team All-AAC honors for the first time.

But few knew that behind the scenes, she had struggled to stay healthy with constant bouts of strep throat.

“Back in my freshman and sophomore years, I was always sick,” Hall said. “My sophomore season I had strep I think it was 11 times within the school year. So, within 9-10 months, I had strep 11 times. I just never was healthy. I was always on antibiotics and medicine and supplements and everything like that because I was always sick.”

Her weight fluctuated, as did her strength. She lost 20 pounds in the middle of her sophomore year. She frequently missed practice. At the suggestion of her mother, who in addition to being her lacrosse coach through high school is also a nurse, Hall had her tonsils removed.

She hasn’t been sick since, though the surgery cost her more weight from her 5’11” frame. Trainers at Florida helped her to rebuild her strength and weight.

“That took all of my junior year,” Hall said. “It was still really hard to come back from that. So, my senior season was the first time that I was able to fully play in the fall, fully play in the spring and was strong enough and healthy and everything. It was definitely a journey.”

She returned to her true form as a senior. It helped her garner first-team IWLCA All-American honors for the first time, and she was the AAC Attacker of the Year. Her season didn’t end until Florida became the first unseeded team since 2017 to make the final four, where the Gators fell to Northwestern.

“We were honestly thrilled to see that she was reaching her potential because she certainly had the capability from the beginning,” O’Leary said. “For her to have a senior season like she did, if she didn’t have the season she did, we would not have had the season we had.”

Hall posted a hat trick in their win over North Carolina, put up five points in a win over Virginia, scored six goals and added an assist in a quarterfinal win over Maryland and scored five goals in the semifinal loss to Northwestern.

“It was just really fun to watch her have the season that she had,” O’Leary said. “And I think she elevated all of her teammates around her.”

It also opened the eyes of coaches at the next level. Nicole Levy, the Florida offensive coordinator and a former AU player, advocated for Hall. Hall proved her coach right with a strong debut season in the pros, and then was one of 44 players to compete with the U.S. Women’s National Field Team during the IWLCA Presidents Cup in November.

“That was just amazing, and I never thought I would be invited to one of those,” Hall said. “I thought I was good collegiately, but I never thought I was good enough to play with them. That was amazing and definitely a dream come true. And I do chalk it up to my senior year. I think that was what kind of put me in the talk for that.”