It was 1901, and the sun was still nowhere close to setting on the British Empire.

And it was Great Britain, the political and social monstrosity of early modernity, diffusing its homegrown games across the planet.

So at the turn of the 20th century Miss Constance Applebee — a member of the British School of Physical Education — came to the United States, stick and ball in tow, and showed off her country’s creation at a Harvard Summer School.

Field hockey had arrived in America.

And 109 years after Applebee, freshman forward Rachael Mack traced Constance’s path to the States, though she detoured about 830 miles west and landed in Ann Arbor.

Just over a month into her Michigan career, Mack has already become a standout. Only in the U.S. since the summer, the Brit has stampeded past any concerns of a cultural adjustment to help lead the Michigan field hockey team to its best start in several years.

How she got to Michigan, though, is a somewhat serendipitous story.

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Mack didn’t begin playing the sport until she entered middle school at the age of 11—relatively late in English terms, though still early compared to most Americans.

But even before she ever picked up a stick, the Bromsgrove, England native had dreamt about crossing the Atlantic.

“I actually wanted to come to university in America since I was about five years old, just purely because I’m a big sports person and sport here is, like, huge,” Mack said after a recent September practice. “So I always wanted to come and play. I wanted to experience a new country and play with different people."

When it came time to seriously considere her college field hockey options, Mack, who had experience playing for her school (Bromsgrove), Olton, a club team in England’s Women’s Premier Division, and the English U-18 women’s national team, first started to gather information via U.S. College Prospects, a recruiting company.

For Michigan, it’s not a rare occurrence to go international to recruit for field hockey — the sport is larger in countries in Europe and even South America. Various members of the Wolverines’ staff have recruited in places like Argentina and Uruguay in years past.

In this instance, assistant coach Ryan Langford received a tip from an old coaching friend, Michael Boal. Boal had several players in England who he knew were potentially interested (and skilled enough) to play field hockey in the States.

Boal was one of Mack’s coaches at Olton. He had seen enough of her to know that it was worth Michigan’s time to get a closer look at the forward.

Heeding his advice, head coach Marcia Pankratz sent Langford over to watch Mack in April 2009, as she was playing in a tournament with the U-18 national team.

Langford said that Mack played "outstanding" and Michigan was determined to recruit her, but because of NCAA contact rules, he could only communicate with the forward via email. Eventually, though, the coaches were able to get a visit lined up for her.

“She and her mother came to Ann Arbor during Art Fair and we got to show them around," Langford said. "(It was) beautiful while they were here, and I think they fell in love with it.”

Contact continued between both parties until last fall. While Michigan was on a road trip to Louisville during the season, Langford received a call from the young Brit making it official — Mack would be a Wolverine.

From the beginning, if it was going to be America, it was going to be Michigan for Mack.

She could have stayed home in England and played collegiately there, or possibly elsewhere in Europe. But as Pankratz said, “people know Michigan all over the world.”

The same combination of athletic success and academic excellence that draws students and athletes from all over the country managed to have the same effect on a girl halfway across the world.

“I looked at various other places, but I really like it here because academically it was really good,” Mack said. “And I knew I’d be pushed physically and mentally if I came here playing hockey, so it just really appealed to me.