Mill Valley’s Samantha Smith and Madison Smith, former stars at Tam High School, helped Northwestern University to a 15-11 win over the University of Florida in Friday’s NCAA semifinals and will compete for the national title on Sunday.
Third-year player Samantha Smith tied the score at 2-2 with an unassisted goal in the first quarter and had a game-high eight draw controls. Freshman player Madison Smith also contributed with a draw control.
Northwestern (18-2) will play Boston College (19-3) for the championship on Sunday in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN at 9 a.m. PST.
Northwestern, which defeated Boston University 18-6 in last year’s final, is seeking its ninth national title, joining Maryland with 14 overall.
Samantha Smith has 13 goals, five assists and a team-high 107 draw controls this season, while Madison Smith has one assist and 45 draw controls.
Samantha Smith was an All-MCAL First Team selection for the Red Tail Hawks in 2019. Madison Smith was the league’s 2023 Player of the Year.
Preparation Track
Ellie McCaskey Hay, of San Rafael, competed in four events at the state meet at Buchanan High School in Clovis, reaching the long jump final but narrowly missing out in the 100 meters.
St. Ignatius High School’s McCaskey Hay placed fifth in Friday’s long jump preliminaries with a jump of 18 feet, 8.5 inches, then bettered that mark in Saturday’s final with a jump of 19 feet to take fifth place.
McCaskey-Hay placed 10th in Friday’s 100 heats, finishing in virtually the same time (11.71 seconds) as ninth-place finisher Marlee Scoggins of Calabasas. The top nine runners advanced to the finals, with McCaskey-Hay barely watching from the outside.
McCaskey-Hay also competed in the 200 meters and the 4×100 meter relay. McCaskey-Hay set a new personal best in the 200 meters with a time of 24.54 seconds, placing 16th, and anchoring the relay to help St. Ignatius finish 14th.
Marin’s other state qualifiers finished their competition on Friday, with Redwood’s William Garam placing 12th in the 400 meters in a PR of 48.19. Redwood’s Annalise Horne placed 16th in the long jump with a time of 17 feet, 4.75 inches. Redwood’s Antonio Bayon competed in the pole vault but was unable to clear 15 feet.
baseball
The San Rafael Pacifics improved to 3-0 in their Pecos League season opener with a 10-5 win over Dublin on Friday at Albert Park.
Pacific scored in each of the first four innings to take an 8-2 lead and added two more in the seventh. San Rafael surrendered 14 hits and starting pitcher Eric Pernow pitched six innings, giving up two runs, three hits, three walks and striking out five.
Relief pitcher Xavier Stewart struck out two and walked three in the final three innings. He came to bat and hit the first pitch of the season in the bottom of the seventh for a solo home run, his first career home run.
Pacifics center fielder Xavier Selway was 2-for-5 and added a triple. San Rafael catcher Beau Dorman was 3-for-5 and Chris Briskal had three RBIs.
San Rafael is scheduled to play at Dublin on Tuesday and Thursday.
