Rachel Mills

Senior forward Sammy Smith led the seven seniors of the Linfield lacrosse team to a victory in its last home game against the Pacific University Boxers on April 16 and finished the game with a career-high seven goals.
“It was our senior night game,” Smith said. “It was nice to leave the Linfield field for the last time on such a high note.”
The ’Cats had to fight to get that high note, however. It was a back-and-forth game from the beginning. Smith opened the game after just 1 minute, 20 seconds with the first of her record-number of goals.
Goals from Pacific senior Erin Bayne, junior Lilia Lee, sophomore Natalie Getchell and freshman Monica Smith, answered by a single goal from Linfield senior midfielder Martha Inouye, put the Boxers ahead after only 10 minutes.
Despite their early lead, the Boxers fell behind because of the high volume of shots and goals by the Wildcats.
Wildcat freshman midfielder Taylor Fisher stepped up in the 15th minute to score the first of a four-goal unanswered run that included shots by Smith, sophomore attacker Tarie Caouette and freshman midfielder Anna Gorciak.
The first half ended with an even 10-10.
The second half saw more goals exchanged by the teams. After a single goal from Caouette, Pacific embarked on a five-goal rampage that included two goals from Bayne and one each from Smith, Lee and freshman Savannah McClendon.
Led by Inouye, Linfield battled back, finishing three more consecutive goals and putting Linfield ahead by one goal with 16 minutes left on the clock.
With 9 minutes to play, Bayne pushed a shot past Wildcat keeper senior Becca Levy and tied the game.
The game ended for the Boxers seconds later when junior defender Ashley Johnson accepted a pass from Smith and scored, leading a second five-goal run that put Linfield ahead by five with 20 seconds remaining.
Linfield finished the game with a 21-17 win for its final home game of the year.
“The girls battled very hard,” first year head coach Tim Hart said. “They really wanted to win that last home game for the seniors.”
He commended Gorciak for scoring her 30th goal of the season during the game.
The ’Cats traveled to Tacoma, Wash., to play their final game against the University of Puget Sound Loggers on April 19, emerging with an 11-18 loss.
The Loggers seized the advantage early in the game, jumping to a 10-5 lead in the first 30 minutes. Linfield maintained its aggression on offense, finishing with four goals from Smith and three from Gorciak.
“Smith scored her 40th goal on Sunday,” Hart said. “It is her highest number of goals scored in a single season.”
He also singled out Levy for her performance.
“Becca did an incredible job in both games, stopping almost every free position shot,” Hart said. “She broke the Linfield record on Sunday for most saves in a game, recording 33 saves.”
The team finished its first season with Hart with a 4-8 record.
“It is the most wins Linfield has accomplished since playing an all-college schedule,” Hart said.
But he is already looking forward to next season, hoping for an even greater number of wins.
Though Smith won’t be back for that season, she has plenty of lacrosse memories to take with her when she leaves.
“The girls on this team are amazing,” Smith said. “We had our fights, but we put them aside when it was time to play. They are the closest thing to a family that I have experienced at Linfield.”