FAIRFIELD—Maggie Swanson wanted nothing more than to keep up with her two older brothers.
On the ice. On the field. In the backyard. In the batting cages. Just in life.
While life might have started in her siblings’ sports shadows, Swanson has since emerged as her own standout student-athlete, a softball player and an ice hockey player who has the prowess and abilities both on the diamond and on the frozen pond to take her games to the next level.
That’s right, Swanson, a resident of Fairfield and a rising senior at Choate Rosemary Hall, has committed to play both sports at Williams College starting in the fall of 2026.
“She’s been the definition of a captain for us, the kind of kid every program hopes to have,” said Choate softball coach Edrik Lopez. “She’s universally liked by her teammates and has a real gift for including everyone, whether they’re a starter or still developing. That ability to make all players feel part of the team has really shaped our culture.”
The gnawing question that needs to be asked, however, is this: Is Maggie Swanson a softball player who plays hockey? Or, is she a hockey player who plays softball?
“Growing up, hockey is mostly in the fall and winter, and softball is more spring and summer, so I’d say it depends on what time of year you ask me,” Swanson said.
As she got older, and got better in both sports, there would oftentimes be talk of dropping one sport to focus on the other so she could become the best she could be.
But when it actually came time to walk away from the softball field, or step off the ice one last time, Swanson simply couldn’t do it.
“Every year, it was like maybe it’s time to narrow it down and just do one and then every year, I’d say let’s go one more year of doing both,” Swanson said. “When it came time to start looking at colleges, my coaches started to say, ‘You know, you could do both.’”
She does both because of her brothers, both of whom played at Fairfield Warde.
She followed them to the ice rink. She followed them to the baseball field.
“I grew up in a rink,” she said. “When it came time and I was old enough, it was like, ‘yeah, I want to do that.’”
A hockey stick, a softball bat and a path forward led her to her future, with that journey now headed to Williamstown, Mass.
Growing up in Fairfield, where she spent one year at Fairfield Warde High School as a ninth grader, Swanson played softball with her friends in the town’s recreation league and also for the CT Fury, which are based out of her hometown.
Travel hockey opened a wider world outside of Fairfield, as Swanson has played for both the highly competitive Mid-Fairfield travel hockey program and is currently lacing up the skates for the CT Polar Bears.
Following her ninth-grade year at Warde, Swanson transferred and reclassified at Choate.
“A lot of girls hockey players go to prep school and since early middle school I knew I wanted to do that,” Swanson said. “I went to Warde for a year because it felt like I wanted a year of regular high school before leaving home.”
At Choate, however, Swanson blossomed even more as a student, an athlete and as a person.
As an incoming freshman, she felt her world expand when she was given a roommate from Hong Kong.
“We had random roommates, but it worked out great,” Swanson said. “We stayed together all three years that I had a roommate. It was so cool to live with somebody who wasn’t from the U.S.”
On the hockey sheet, the quick-skating forward always seemed to have the skill and the work ethic to shine bright.
On the softball field, however, Swanson always worked hard and began improving in leaps and bounds when she joined the CT Impact travel program.
Swanson is an outfielder whose hockey-created speed helps her cover a lot of ground, but she can also play the infield if the needs is there.
“When we made the switch to the Impact, that’s when I became more serious about softball,” Swanson said. “My coaches, Coach Adam (Laliberte), he was my first non-dad coach, and I just learned so much knowledge about softball and getting into the technical side of hitting and fielding.”
Playing both sports, Swanson has learned to move on from the mistakes that can happen so quickly.
“Coaches love her mindset,” Lopez said. “She doesn’t shy away from taking risks, and when things don’t go perfectly, she’s quick to shrug it off with an ‘oh well’ and move forward. That approach has been contagious in the best way.”
It’s the same attitude she’ll be taking to Williams.
“It’s a fantastic academic school and all the times I visited there, I could just see myself thriving in that environment,” Swanson said. “I really loved my time at Choate and the NESCACs are super similar to prep schools, and I found myself looking for things that we’re similar, to at least would be a step up from that I’m in now.”
And Williams wanted her for both sports, as well.
“I did explore if coaches would be OK with that,” Swanson said.
She’s not sure what she will study at Williams, but that was part of the appeal to attend the school, as well. Sure the journey led to Williams, but there are plenty of roads to explore before leaving for the rest of her life.
“It was one of the things I was looking for in schools, were liberal arts programs with a more open curriculum, so I can explore new classes,” she said.
At Choate, Swanson has been a part of two highly successful programs.
The girls hockey program is traditionally strong and the softball program has been one of the best in New England prep school circles for the past decade.
“She’s been an anchor for Choate softball,” Lopez said.
After one more year with the Wild Boars, Swanson will be raising anchor from Wallingford, and start sailing toward Massachusetts, towards Williams and a two-sport collegiate career.
This time around, though, her brothers will get come to watch her play.
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