Less than three minutes into her game, senior Sami Smith wrote her name into the record book. Smith has broken a 31-year-old scoring record, which was held by Keene State College Hall of Famer, Kay Mulcahy.
Smith said that breaking the record hasn’t “really hit her” yet. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s hit me yet, and how big that is, but it was cool. It was cool that it was from my sister. She was really excited and she was definitely super happy for me,” Smith said.
Assistant field hockey coach, Allie Califano said she works really well with getting the ball up and down the field.
“She is awesome at getting the ball up in front of her and getting in front of the goal; if a goalie saves it, she’ll get back on the pads and continue to shoot until she finishes it. She also works really well with the other for
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wards on the team. She’s a good team player, and I think a lot of the girls on the team look up to her,” Califano said.
Califano continued, “She works extremely hard, if there’s a ball that looks like it’s going to go out of bounds, you can always see her running full field, full force after it. She never gives up, she’s super tough,” Califano said.
Fellow senior and captain Kayla Renaud has noticed Smith’s strong work ethic as well. “I have lived with her since freshman year so we’re really close, and she’s the best teammate I’ve probably ever had,” Renaud said.
She continued, “She works really hard, even in games, obviously 100% effort, but even in practice in simple drills she’s always giving 100%.”
Califano shared a story of Smith when she pushes herself to the limit.
“I remember coach saying that in the past years, I guess she got hit in the face and her nose was broken and she was like ‘No I’m fine, I’m fine’ and she’s just gushing blood and she wanted to keep playing. So she definitely works hard, and pushes herself and it makes the others around her work as equally as hard,” Califano said.
Smith brings energy to the team Califano said. “She always tries to stay positive and on task. She’s also fun and can definitely make the team laugh at points when needs to be. But, like I said, they definitely look up to her and she’s an amazing player. She gives all she has and it makes everyone else around her want to put forth the effort that she does,” Califano said.
Smith is a big role model on the team. “Being an All American and scoring that many goals, I would just naturally look up to her, but I think her work ethic stands out the most,” Renaud said. She added, “The freshman and sophomores look up to her and she just proves that that’s how hard you have to work to get where she is.”
Although Smith has the spotlight, her team is right beside her with tremendous amounts of support. “The senior class is really tight and they are best friends, they all live together and they’re really supportive of her. I know that after the game they were all sharing it on Facebook and Instagram, everyone is just a big support. She has a lot of points and stuff like that, but as a team we recognize that and she’s humble about it,” Califano said.
Smith said her next goal is to break the next record for most goals in a career and to win the Little East Conference (LEC).
Shelby Iava can be contacted at siava@kscequinox.com
