Granby Memorial's Wickman Mason Receives Sportswriters' Coach of the Year Award

field hockey head coach Sandy Wickman Mason received the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance 2012 Doc McInerney High School Coach of the Year award for a female sport on Sunday.

“When I first got [the award] and researched it and the three other field hockey coaches who had gotten it [Dot Johnson, Cookie Bromage and Nancy Grace] were people I knew who had incredible legacies,” Wickman Mason said at the CSWA’s 71st annual Gold Key Dinner at the Aqua Turf in Southington.  “They’re all the great of the greats in field hockey.”

Considering her coaching record in the nine years as the Bears’ head coach, Wickman Mason deserves to be mentioned with those tremendous names.

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Indeed, Wickman Mason has won six state Class S titles, including the last three. Granby Memorial went 17-1 in 2011, culminating in a thrilling 1-0 double overtime victory over Laurelton Hall in the state championship game. The Bears yielded just four goals in 18 games, and they shutout all four opponents in the state tournament.

Granby Memorial’s success is even more impressive considering the loss of All-American Abby Bascetta, who graduated in the spring of 2011 after leading the Bears to an undefeated season in her senior year.

Wickman Mason’s prowess goes beyond on-field strategy. Regional All-American and team captain Haley Makuch, who will play at the College of the Holy Cross next fall, said that Wickman Mason was adept at helping her players set goals and reach their potential.

“She’s the best coach I’ve ever had,” Makuch said in an interview on Friday.

Wickman Mason, for her part, was thankful to receive the award in front of her family and friends.

“To be able to share that with them really meant a lot,” she said.