Prep honors: MCAL unveils its basketball, soccer players of the year
The MCAL crowned its players of the year for winter 2024-25, naming Redwood High’s Semetri Carr and Marin Catholic’s Izzy McFadden as the top athletes for basketball, plus Archie Williams’ Sean Chamberlin and Redwood’s Sarah Farese for soccer.
Carr’s Giants won the MCAL regular-season and postseason titles and advanced to the North Coast Section Division I championship game this past weekend. Carr is set to play for Cal next season. McFadden, who is committed to Dennison, led the Wildcats to an appearance in the MCAL title game then guided them to their fourth consecutive NCS championship on Saturday. Both Redwood and MC qualified for the NorCal playoffs, which begin Tuesday.
Chamberlin was part of a devastating attacking quartet with Willy Finley, Jackson Richardson, and Jake Morrison for the Peregrine Falcons. Archie Williams finished first in the MCAL regular season and made it to the title game. Chamberlin scored goals in all six of Archie Williams’ postseason games so far, helping the team win the NCS D-II title on Friday.
Farese scored a league-high 10 goals to help Redwood finish second in league and make it to the MCAL title game. Farese scored 20 of Redwood’s 37 goals in all competitions this season, highlighted by a stunning strike to beat Branson 1-0 in the MCAL semifinals.
The full list of all-league players can be found online at mcalsports.org and will run when the Marin IJ names its players of the year sometime after postseason play concludes.
Boys basketball
The all-MCAL first team was comprised of Marin Catholic’s Joe Hammond, San Rafael’s Gio Brovelli, Branson’s Chase Robertson and NJ Gray, plus Archie Williams’ Grady Stewart. Robertson and Gray helped lead Branson to the NCS D-III championship on Friday and the team qualified for NorCals.
Hammond and Brovelli led their teams to the brink of NorCals, each falling just one win short of continuing their seasons in NCS third-place games. Brovelli, who finished his career with 1,359 points, helped lead San Rafael to its first section semifinal appearance since 2000.
San Domenico’s Gavin Early was the lone Marin player to make the Bay Counties League West first team. Early led the Panthers to an NCS D-III title-game appearance and a berth in the NorCal D-III playoffs. University’s Lucas Lau was named BCL West player of the year.
Girls basketball
Redwood went undefeated in league play this season and won the postseason title behind a trio of first-team selections in Kitty White, Maya Saibel, and Brooke Denler. The Giants won the NCS D-I third-place game on Friday to qualify for NorCals.
San Marin’s Quincy Dean and Branson’s Avery Myerberg filled out the first-team selections.
San Domenico’s Stanford-bound star Carly Amborn was picked as the BCL West player of the year. Amborn was a scoring machine each of the past two seasons for the Panthers.
The BCL West first team featured San Domenico’s Tosia Konczak, Marin Academy’s Amelia Thomas, plus University’s Olivia Soenens who is from Mill Valley.
Boys soccer
The rest of Archie Williams’ vaunted attack — Finley, Richardson, and Morrison — represented the Peregrine Falcons on the first team.
MCAL postseason champion Redwood put two players — forward Sam Gersch and midfielder Kamran Madani –on the first team. Tam had goalie Sam Clark, defender Mateo Hale, plus midfielder Noah Pedersen on the first team.
The other selections were MC forward Enrique Guzman, TL defender Cole Greene, San Rafael defender Teo Cristea, and Branson defender Bode Dossey.
Marin Academy’s River Jones and San Domenico’s Guilherme Guito were named co-MVPs of the BCL West. The regular-season champion Wildcats also put Dominic Yu and Charlie Hansen on the first team while the Panthers were represented by Davi Freiria.
Girls soccer
Tam ended up passing Redwood for the league title on the final day of the season then defeated the Giants on penalties to win the postseason title. Tam led the way with a league-high four first-team selections in forwards Lauren Willard and Addie Covey, midfielder Marissa Scanlan, and goalie Emily McMahon.
MC was next up with three selections — forward Sloane Carey, midfielder Nora Snearly, and defender Siena White.
The other selections were Branson midfielder Riley Pearson and defender Whitney Collet, Archie Williams midfielder Mari Rode, and Redwood defender Tessa Marshall.
Marin Academy put three midfielders on the BCL first team with Raya Leikin, Kacy Walker, and Sadie Goodenough. San Domenico’s Keira Plunkett made the first team. Urban’s Stella Monberg was named the player of the year.