LK GROVE, CA (MPG) - When Katie Smith arrived at Cosumnes River College for her first soccer practices, she felt nervous, although she never expected the stand-out season she would have in her sophomore year. 

Long before her stellar sophomore year, Smith first started playing soccer during recess in elementary school.

“In first grade with our friends and then I told my parents that we (Smith and her sister) wanted to try playing recreational soccer because it was the thing we did every day at recess,” Smith said.  

She started playing soccer with her twin sister, Alana Smith, who always pushed her to do her best. 

“We’re both definitely very competitive so I think that having someone that your parents are also comparing you to because you’re right on after games together, you’re going to practice together so that definitely fueled my competitiveness and made me want to be better,” Smith said.   

Smith first started playing club soccer for FC Elk Grove, where she said she played on the lowest team of the club, but she couldn’t tell the difference; she was just happy to start playing year-round soccer. 

“We switched from rec to club in fourth or fifth grade and when I first started playing club, I was on the lowest team for FC Elk Grove and I didn’t even know the difference,” Smith said. “It was just so exciting to get to do that and play year-round.” 

When Smith was in rec soccer, she said she played as a forward, but as she got into club soccer she played as a goalkeeper for a year before playing as a centre-back where her mom was supportive of this position change. 

“My mom has always been super supportive and she always hypes up her kids, so I feel like she helped to show me that my role as a defender was just as important, if not more important than scoring all the goals because I was like protecting the goal,” Smith said.

When Smith and her sister got to middle school, they switched to play for IR Academy, where they were invited to play on the highest level team. 

Once Smith got to high school, she said she had always hated doing tryouts and although she had doubts, she would grow with confidence as time went on. 

Midway through her high school career, Smith faced hardships with the COVID-19 pandemic, where she would record herself at home completing challenges from her coaches, as well as once returning to school playing in the spring rather than winter. 

Returning for her senior season, she had an assistant coach at Cosumnes Oaks High School, Emmanuel Vega, who was also a coach at Cosumnes River College. Since Smith wasn’t sure what she wanted to major in she decided to attend CRC. 

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I kind of knew that I was going to end up going to CRC for school instead of going straight to a four-year, and then having that connection with Coach Vega kind of helped me be able to be on the soccer team,” Smith said. 

This was when the head coach of the Lady Hawks, Cesar Plasencia, took notice of her. 

“I thought she had a lot of potential and a lot of strengths in her game that just needed to be polished, and the opportunity to really develop into the player that she ended up developing. To her credit, she was very dedicated and coachable,” Plasencia said. 

After Plasencia pulled Smith to the side to speak about CRC with her, she told him she was 100% committed and would attend CRC to further her athletic and academic career. 

When first arriving on campus, she remembers being nervous about practice, especially with conditioning as she says she wasn’t the fastest. 

“I was just nervous that I was gonna look bad and that my conditioning wasn’t gonna translate to what I knew I could do soccer-wise,” Smith said. 

Slowly but surely, Smith said that as the season got closer and the team would scrimmage, she was on the starting squad, which allowed her to gain confidence. 

During her freshman season in the fall of 2022, the Lady Hawks would go 10-9-5, while going 7-0-3 at home to reach the second round of the CCCAA State Championship tournament before they fell to the Delta College Mustangs.

“She (Smith) just competed and never took a play off and competed every moment of every game, whether it was practice, 1v1 exercises and she made everyone around her better because of that,” Plasencia said about Smith’s freshman season. 

Smith gained recognition as she was named to the Big 8 All-Conference Team and Big 8 All-Tournament Team, the first of many accolades she would rack up.  

Overall, Smith said she felt good overall about her freshman year, although this would be just the beginning, as she would solidify herself as one of the best center backs of the region. 

“Overall I thought that I could grow more and get better in my next year, and I was looking forward to that next year and being in the older group,” Smith said.

In the 2023 fall season and Smith’s sophomore season, the Lady Hawks would go 15-3-6 overall and 7-0-4 in conference play and moved on to the conference tournament to defeat Santa Rosa College in the finals to become Big 8 champions. 

“I was definitely hopeful because I knew that we had the talent,” Smith said. “I knew that we had so many great players, because I saw them at practice every day competing, and we all really pushed each other to do really well.”

The Lady Hawks and Smith would reach the final four in the state after defeating West Valley College, Sierra College and City College of San Francisco in the CCCAA Tournament. 

With Plasencia having an offensive play style, a solid defense was important for him, and Smith was the centerpiece of that, he said. 

“Katie was the centerpiece of all that as the leader and the sophomore and kept everyone in the position they needed to be in throughout the game,” Plasencia said. 

They would ultimately fall 3-0 to Cypress College, who would fall to a Big 8 Conference team in Folsom Lake College in the state championship. 

I think that our drive (pushed the team), we wanted it and we knew that we could do it so once the whistle was blown we just really turned on the next gear and were able to give everything we had to be able to win some of those games,” Smith said. 

Regardless of coming up short of the ultimate goal, Smith said that she’s proud of this group and what they were able to accomplish together. 

“I am really proud of everyone, especially the sophomores because I think our two years were a great two years and I’m really proud of the freshmen as well because a lot of our starting lineup were freshmen and they just worked really hard,” Smith said.  

Despite coming up short on a team accomplishment, Smith would start gaining recognition as she did her freshman year, repeating as Big 8 All-Conference and All-Tournament team. 

It wouldn’t stop there as Smith would be recognized as CCCAA Nor-Cal All-Region Team, Big 8 Conference Defensive MVP, CRC’s Most Valuable Female Athlete and named by the United Soccer Coaches as an All-American Defender. 

The cherry on top is her commitment to furthering her athletic and academic career at Stanislaus State, where she will study elementary education in hopes of becoming a teacher. 

For Plasencia, he said Smith committing to Stanislaus State made him extremely happy, and he is always happy when his players choose to continue to play at the next level. 

“I was excited for her and really proud of what we did as a group and as a team to be able to generate the possibility for her to be able to continue to go and excel as a student and as an athlete,” Smith said. 

Plasencia said that in his 20 years at CRC, Smith has been one of the most pleasant players that he’s had the chance to coach. 

“She’s extremely respectful, always said hello, always in a good mood, always ready to work and just the kind of players you wish you had in all your group,” Plasencia said. 

Smith said she’s excited to continue at Stanislaus State, although she has never lived away from home but thinks that change can be good for her. 

As parting advice, Plasencia said that for Smith anything is possible. 

“If she commits to something and that she’s capable of putting her maximum effort, that anything’s possible in terms of the objectives or the results,” Plasencia said. 

As Smith leaves CRC to continue her playing career, she’s thankful for what Plasencia has done for her as well as the rest of the coaching staff. 

“I think I’ve grown a lot as a player in these past couple years and coach Cesar (Plasencia) played a big part in that,” Smith said. “He helped me improve my game so I’m very thankful for his coaching as well as the rest of the coaching staff at CRC.” 

Outside of soccer, Smith likes to hang out with her friends and be outside to go on hikes and walks to talk and observe the nature around her, although she said that soccer takes up most of her time. 

Throughout this journey, Smith said, she is grateful for her parents in the role they played in putting her on this path. 

“I’m really grateful for my parents for supporting me, especially my dad because he really does everything for me. I could not be more grateful for my dad and my sister since she’s on the team with me, and to have her to always hang out with, she’s like a built-in best friend,” Smith said. 

Finally, Smith is grateful for the opportunities, good health and being able to do everything she’s accomplished so far in her life. 

“It’s crazy looking back on where I was coming out of high school to where I am now,” Smith said. 

Stanislaus State makes its fall debut Sept. 5 in Lacey, Wash., against Saint Martin’s University.