By: Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
FITCHBURG, Massachusetts (August 12, 2026) — The Smith sisters owned both ends of Wednesday’s match-play marathon at Oak Hill Country Club. Medalist Molly Smith was the first player through to the quarterfinals, and about three hours later, Morgan Smith turned out the lights by completing Thursday’s final eight.
Nearly 10 hours separated Molly’s opening tee shot at 7:30 and Morgan’s clinching putt on the 18th, but both sisters who are representing Mount Pleasant Golf Club in Lowell were still standing Wednesday evening after advancing through two rounds of match play. The pair met in the 2024 semifinals at Taconic Golf Club, with Morgan prevailing, and could potentially face off in the final match Friday morning.
First, they must navigate a field split evenly between four past champions and four players seeking their first title. Morgan will meet Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) in a rematch of the 2022 final and 2023 semifinal, while Molly faces Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club), one of her stroke-play partners earlier this week. Sitting on opposite side of the bracket, Isabel Brozena (Indian Ridge Country Club) and Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea Golf Club) could play again in a rematch of last year’s final.
7:30a – Molly Smith vs. Emma Abramson
7:40a – Shannon Johnson* vs. Lillian Guleserian
7:50a – Isabel Brozena* vs. Erika Redmond
8:00a – Rebecca Skoler* vs. Morgan Smith*
*Past champion
In the meantime, Molly Smith largely maintained her dominant form with a commanding 7&6 victory over Georgia Beland (Student Member/MIAA), then encountered a much tougher test against Adriana Eaton (KOHR Golf) in the Round of 16. Smith trailed by one after three-putting the 9th from approximately 15 feet, but used the walk across the road to reset.
Her response was emphatic. From 186 yards on the par-5 10th, Smith struck a 5-iron onto the elevated green and rolled in the eagle putt to immediately square the match. She remained in the fairway throughout the closing side, won Nos. 14 and 15 with pars and birdied the 17th to complete a 3-and-1 victory.
“Instead of being frustrated by the difficulty, I’m kind of embracing it and enjoying the struggle,” Smith said. “Even after the front side, when I made some really odd bogeys, I just kept saying, ‘It’s OK. Next hole. You’ve got this.'”
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Morgan Smith, who has struggled result-wise this year, punched her ticket to Thursday by edging Christine Mandile (Winchester Country Club), 1-up. The two-time champion called a penalty on herself after her ball moved in the rough on No. 9, bringing the match even. She pulled ahead 2-up when Mandile found the trees on both Nos. 15 & 16 and survived Mandile’s late push by securing a conceded par from pin high on the 18th.
Two more former champions advanced comfortably. A Johnson & Johnson matchup required everyone to dispense with last names, but Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea Golf Club), the 2018 champion, made four birdies on the front nine and defeated Jillian Johnson (Hatherly Country Club), 5&3. It was a considerably smoother trip than Shannon’s morning match, when Mya Murphy (1929 Club) pushed her to the 18th before Johnson ended the match by nearly holing out for eagle.
“I hit the ball much better,” the 2018 champion said of her afternoon round. “I had better swing thoughts, and I think having Megan [Buck] on the bag helped reaffirm some putts and lines that I definitely was not seeing this morning.”
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Erika Redmond, who recently joined The Haven Country Club, needed all 18 holes in both matches, first defeating Oak Hill’s Mackenzie Whitney before rallying past Hanley Correia (Ledgemont Country Club), 1-up. Two down late in the afternoon, Redmond buried a 20-foot birdie putt on 17 to even the match, then calmly converted a five-foot comebacker on the final green.
“I had my little sister [Sophie] on the bag, which was a lot of fun,” said Redmond, a Merrimack standout and the oldest of three sisters who competed this week, along with Sophie and Nathalie. “She kept me calm because there were definitely a lot of stressful ending holes.”
Brozena and Skoler each advanced with 7&6 victories in the afternoon, with Skoler taking down 1998 & 2006 winner Tracy Welch (Winchester Country Club). New England Women’s Amateur winner Lillian Guleserian (Blue Hill Country Club) and Williams College standout Emma Abramson completed the quarterfinal field.
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USGA Boatwright Intern Aidan McLaughlin co-wrote these capsules.
1-Molly Smith def. 17-Adriana Eaton, 3&1
Despite crossing the road down by 1, Smith dialed up an eagle on the par-5 10th, hitting a stock 5-iron to the uphill green and rolling in the putt to tie the match. From there, the ball-striking was on point, winning the 14th and 15th with pars and then closing it out with a birdie on the par-3 17th.
24-Emma Abramson def. 25-Ryley Regan, 4&3
Abramson, the rising senior at Williams College, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2024 with some clutch shot making. On the par-4 9th Abramson kept a 2-up lead by hitting the green with one shot in the fairway bunker and stretched her lead to 4-up by winning the 11th and 12th holes. She then matched Regan, the 15-year-old standout from Western Massachusetts, the rest of the way.
4-Shannon Johnson def. 20-Jillian Johnson, 5&3
In an all-Johnson matchup, the 2018 champion from Thorny Lea Golf Club controlled the match from start to finish, winning the first three holes and making four birdies on the front nine for a 33. The younger Johnson, who will play for Anderson University in the fall, won holes 11 and 13, but Johnson hit a 9-iron into the 15th right at the flag to close it out with a birdie.
5-Lillian Guleserian def. 21-Callie Crean, 5&4
The Penn State standout made it back to the quarterfinals where she’ll get a rematch with Shannon Johnson. Crean, a Holy Cross commit, won the par-5 4th with an eagle, but Guleserian took it from there, holding a 2-up lead at the turn and doubling it by winning the 10th and 11th. (She won 75% of the time on the par-5s Nos. 7 and 10, which she said were her favorites on the course).
2-Isabel Brozena def. 15-Kylie Eaton, 7&6
In a matchup of future Big East foes, Brozena, the defending champion and Xavier standout, made four consecutive birdies on holes 4-7 and added another on the 9th to take a commanding 4-up lead by the turn against Eaton, who is transferring from Illinois to Butler this fall. Brozena easily took the 10th with Eaton taking an 8 on the par-5 10th and another birdie on the par-4 11th helped secure the win.
10-Erika Redmond def. 7-Hanley Correia, 1-up
Despite dropping Nos. 12 and 13 after having opportunities to win both — Correia lost a ball on 12 and found a bunker on 13 — the eldest Redmond sister battled back. She buried a 20-foot birdie putt to tie the match heading to the 18th, where both players had birdie chances. Redmond’s attempt from above the hole slid 5 feet past, but she calmly sank the comebacker to defeat the incoming Stonehill first-year.
3-Rebecca Skoler def. 19-Tracy Welch, 7&6
The 2023 champion from the University of Virginia never trailed as she defeated two-time champion Welch (1998 and 2006) in just 12 holes. Skoler’s big highlight came on the 11th with a long birdie putt from across the green to go 6-up in the match, closing it out on the next one to get back to the quarterfinals for the second straight year.
6-Morgan Smith def. 11-Christine Mandile, 1-up
Georgia graduate Smith called a penalty on herself after her ball moved in the rough on No. 9, allowing Richmond graduate Mandile to tie the match. They remained even until the two-time champion pulled ahead on 15, where Mandile found trouble in the trees up the right side, while Smith reached the green in two. Both improvised off the tee on 16, with Mandile missing into the trees left and Smith striking a low bullet off the tee that barely climbed 15 feet off the ground, going 2-up there. Despite being unable to save par from a tricky lie in front of 17, Smith then knocked her approach pin-high on 18 and had her par putt conceded to secure the 1-up victory.
USGA Boatwright Intern Aidan McLaughlin co-wrote these capsules.
1-Molly Smith def. 32-Georgia Beland, 7&6
In the morning’s opening match, Molly Smith showed why she was just in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, taking this one 7&6. Jumping out to a six-hole lead on the front, she impressively missed just one fairway in regulation (by a mere few feet). As they made their way to the back, they each opened it with birdies, before both parring the par-4 11th. Despite being off the mark on the 12th, Smith was able to end it there with a scramble as Beland made 7.
17-Adriana Eaton def. 16-Sophie Lim, 2-up
Eaton rallied from a 2-down deficit at the turn and took a 1-up lead to the 18th. There, Eaton was able to get up and down to save par and edge out Harvard rising sophomore Lim in the first round of match play. Eaton, a semifinalist at Mass Girls’ Junior Amateur, also was this year’s Rhode Island Girls’ Junior Amateur champion.
25-Ryley Regan def. 8-Megan Buck, 19 holes
In the most exciting match of the morning, Regan snap hooked her drive near the trees along the first fairway but hit an 8-iron to inside of 5 feet and made the birdie putt to edge out Buck, a two-time Mass Golf Women’s Player of the Year. Regan also made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th to cut the lead in half, and got up and down for birdie on the 18th to extend it.
24-Emma Abramson def. 9-Sophie Redmond, 6&4
Williams rising senior Abramson won seven of the first nine holes, including back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5. Redmond, who’s headed to Loyola University Chicago this fall, didn’t go down without a fight, stealing back two on holes 10 and 11. The deficit was too much to overcome though, as Abramson took this one 6 & 4.
4-Shannon Johnson def. 29-Mya Murphy, 2-up
In a tight match throughout, Merrimack rising junior Murphy tied the match three times, but 2018 champion Johnson took a 1-up lead on the 16th and then stuffed a shot inside 3 feet on the 18th to end the match with a conceded birdie.
20-Jillian Johnson def. 13-Cecily Henshon, 2-up
Johnson, who is transferring to Anderson University (SC) this year, lost the first hole but pulled ahead with a birdie on the par-4 14th to defeat this year’s Mass Girls’ Junior Amateur winner. Both found some trouble on the 18th, hitting over the green then chipping off the front. Johnson’s chip nearly fell all the way down the slope, but she was able to earn a conceded bogey to close out the match.
5-Lillian Guleserian def. 28-Alyssa Paine, 7&6
Scituate High School standout Paine won the first hole with a birdie, but it was all Guleserian from there as the 2026 New England Women’s Amateur winner and Penn State standout won six of the next eight holes for a 33 on the front nine and finished the match on the 12th.
21-Callie Crean def. 12-Madelyn Vetri, 6&4
Hingham native Crean, a Holy Cross commit, made birdie on the first two holes, shot 32 on the front nine and never looked back to defeat New York native Vetri. Birdies on Nos. 11 and 14 gave Crean the decisive edge.
2-Isabel Brozena def. 31-Jacqueline Gonzalez, 5&3
The defending champion won the first four odd-numbered holes, including birdies on Nos. 1 and 7 to cruise her opening matchup against former Holy Cross golfer Gonzalez. Brozena then made birdie on the 10th, and despite a bogey on the 13th, closed it out on the 15th.
15-Kylie Eaton def. 18-Abby Stone, 2&1
Oak Hill member Stone won the first three holes, but Eaton rallied back with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 8th and another birdie on the 9th to tie the match at the turn. Eaton, the 2025 Rhode Island Women’s Amateur winner, won the 10th with a par and never trailed after that.
7-Hanley Correia def. 26-Julianna Megan, 4&3
Correia, a Stonehill commit and member of the Team Massachusetts, U.S. National Development Program, won six of the first seven holes with four birdies on the front nine, and despite four straight bogeys to start the back, was able to defeat Megan, a rising senior at Holy Cross.
10-Erika Redmond def. 23-Mackenzie Whitney, 2-up
This morning’s match went the distance with only three tied holes between them. Redmond, the rising sophomore at Merrimack, took a 4-up lead through 11, but Whitney won the next three holes. She had a chance to tie the match, but her birdie putt on the 17th lipped out. Whitney’s second shot on the 18th then found the fescue, and she was unable to save par to extend the match.
3-Rebecca Skoler def. 30-Lauren Connor, 5&3
Skoler, the 2023 winner and University of Virginia grad, carded 4 on the first seven holes, making birdie on both par-5s on the front and building the lead to 4-up through 12. Connor, the Bryant University commit, won the par-3s 5th and 13th, but it wasn’t enough to rally in the match.
19-Tracy Welch def. 14-Katherine Ng, 19 holes
Welch, 20 years following her most recent win in the Mass Women’s Amateur, sent home Bowdoin standout Ng on the 19th hole (par-4, No. 1). Welch, who had her son, Bradford, on the bag today, took a 1-up to the back nine. Finding herself down one on the 15th hole, Welch birdied the par-3 17th with a putt from over 35 feet to even things up. On the extra hole, Welch was on the green in two, while Ng was over the green and couldn’t save par.
6-Morgan Smith def. 27-Rebecca Kriegsman, 6&5
The two-time champion and Georgia graduate won holes 3-6 as well as the 9th hole to take a 5-up lead at the turn over Kriegsman, a Bates College commit. Kriegsman won the 12th hole, but Smith closed it out with a par on the par-3 13th.
11-Christine Mandile def. 22-Sophie Chong, 3&2
In the morning’s final match, former University of Richmond standout Mandile eliminated Chong, a member of Mass Golf’s Girls’ Junior Inter-City Team. Chong carried a 1-up lead through the front nine, but Mandile flipped the match by winning Nos. 10 and 11 before making birdie at the 14th to extend her advantage. Chong answered with a superb bunker shot from an awkward stance against the face, knocking it to 2 feet to win the hole and stay alive. Mandile, however, closed out the match on No. 16.
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