From the Diamond to the Pitch, Cal’s Makena Smith Makes Goalkeeping Debut

Makena Smith was helping the freshmen on the softball team move to campus last week when she received a call from head coach Chelsea Spencer.

The junior catcher immediately worried she might be in trouble. She never imagined Spencer would be delivering an offer to fulfill a lifetime athletic ambition.

The Cal soccer team was in need of an emergency backup goalkeeper and Spencer wondered if Smith was interested.

Smith was a dual-sport star before she arrived at Cal, and helped lead her Legends FC club team to a national championship. 

Soccer has always been Smith’s first love, and she received offers to play goalkeeper in college.

But the Murrieta, Calif., native hadn’t put on the gloves in a competitive match in nearly four years.

“I tried to keep it cool when (Spencer) was telling me, but in my head I was going crazy because this was one of my dreams ever since I was little,” said Smith, who batted .327 last season and led the team in home runs (eight), hits (36), runs scored (22) and RBIs (23). “I made a commitment to Cal softball, so if she didn’t feel comfortable with me playing I was not going to play. But she said she fully supported me and would have my back if I wanted to try. I absolutely wanted to do it.”

Smith hardly eased into her new role.

After practicing with the soccer team only once last week, she was pressed into action as the starter for Sunday’s match against defending NCAA champion Santa Clara. 

Smith made seven saves, none bigger than a punch over the crossbar in the final minute, as Cal tied then-No. 2-ranked Santa Clara 1-1 in double overtime.

On Tuesday, Smith was named Pac-12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week. Outside of a clean sheet, she couldn’t have asked for a much better debut.

“In order to do what Makena did, you have to be a very special athlete,” Cal soccer coach Neil McGuire said after the match. “Clearly, she competes at the Pac-12 level in softball. She’s a great athlete in that sport and it clearly translated in this game today. We’ve known for a long time that she’s a talented dual athlete, she played for a club team that we know well and respect. We had no fear of putting her in the goal, but to see her perform the way she did was really special and I’m excited for her.”

Spencer didn’t recruit Smith to her alma mater. But the second-year head coach knew about her tremendous athleticism and background as a goalkeeper. 

Spencer admits she was initially hesitant about having Smith join the soccer program, but quickly realized the misguided nature of her thinking.

“I have always preached it’s about the student-athlete experience and it would have been selfish for me to not let her do this,” Spencer said. “She is on a softball scholarship, but I am here to help our university. I am a Cal Bear and I want us all to succeed, so I left it up to Makena to decide what she wanted to do.”

Smith didn’t expect to get any playing time on Sunday, yet alone be named the starter. She had barely knocked off the rust in her limited practice session.

“I just wanted to be on the field and get the game day experience to see how everything works. Once he told me I was going to start, I chuckled and then was like, ‘wait, are you serious?’ she said. “It didn’t seem real at the moment. But then I was like, ‘let’s do this.’” 

Smith’s goalkeeping instincts came flooding back, and she gained more confidence as the game wore on. The fearlessness she shows behind the plate or at third base translated to the pitch.

“My teammates were amazing. It is so hard to trust someone after one practice, so I give them tons of props,” she said. “They all made me feel really comfortable, which was the best thing that could have happened.”

Spencer was caught off guard by Smith making her debut so quickly. She received a text an hour before kickoff alerting her about Smith’s starting status.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Me and my wife packed up the baby and we were on our way. I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Spencer said. “It was so cool to see her perform. I knew if she was put in this position she was going to succeed and boy did she.”

Smith’s parents and brothers nearly missed the big moment as well. They were at a lake with spotty reception when Spencer called to tell them Smith was in goal.

“I had told them I wouldn’t even be playing, so they had to scramble to watch the game,” Smith said. “The whole family was gathered around an iPad and yelling at each other to turn it on because it wasn’t working. They were all sunburnt and crispy fried from being outside all day. It was pure chaos, but they ended up seeing most of it.”

Smith was a two-sport athlete throughout her childhood, balancing club soccer with travel softball. She never told either coach about playing both.

“It was a secret because I thought they would make me quit the other one,” Smith said. “In guys’ sports, they love two-sport athletes. But I was so terrified because when I was younger I had one coach tell me I had to quit or choose a sport. I loved both and I didn’t want to quit.”

By her sophomore year in high school, Smith finally came clean about her dual-sport life.

“They were both totally cool with it,” she said with a laugh. “I wish I had told them earlier. It would have saved me a lot of stress.”

Smith received scholarship offers for softball and soccer, but no college offered her the chance to play both. Nothing in soccer came close to matching the opportunity Cal softball provided. 

“Academics was way more important for me when I made my decision,” she said. “I wasn’t going to turn down Berkeley unless it was for another top academic school.”

Smith will be splitting time between soccer and softball throughout the fall for as long as the soccer team needs her. Both coaching staffs have devised a plan to ensure she doesn’t exceed the NCAA hours limits for athletes.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way,” Spencer said. “It’s the first time in my career I’ve ever had a dual-sport athlete, so it’s going to be new territory for me. But we will work together to make it work for Makena and be respectful to both sports.”

Smith is studying public health, and wants to work in emergency medicine. She plans to join the military after graduating from Cal to get her medical experience.

“I think trying to juggle both sports and school this semester will be a good intro into what I will be getting into when I get to medical school and into life,” Smith said. “It’s probably going to be really tough, but I have a lot of people at Cal helping me.”

Smith’s softball teammates were stationed behind the goal cheering like crazy for every play during her debut against Santa Clara. 

“They were super pumped for me and that helped so much,” Smith said. “They are a great squad and a great group of girls. They have been so supportive and I love them so much for that. It makes this experience so much more fun.”

Spencer hopes the relationship between the softball and soccer programs can grow even stronger because of Smith’s presence on both fields.

“I know there are kids that would tell you that one of the things they should have done more in college is to reach out to different sports and get more friends,” Spencer said. “Everyone kind of gets caught up in their same routines, going from practice to the training room to the weight room over and over. I think this is a great opportunity to expand not only Makena’s exposure to Cal Athletics life, but our entire team.”

No matter how long her collegiate goalkeeping career lasts, Smith intends to savor every minute. She didn’t think this day would ever come, and isn’t taking any of it for granted.

“This is a lot more than I bargained for, and everything right now is such a blessing,” she said. “This opportunity was a godsend for sure. I really still can’t believe how it all happened.”