DAVIS, Calif. – Senior midfielder Zahra Smith scored six total goals, including five after the halftime break, to lead St. Francis to a comeback 11-10 win over Davis in a showdown of the Delta League's top two teams Thursday night at Dewey Halden Field.
The Troubadour varsity squad improves to 11-3 for the year and 8-1 in league play, scoring its first win over the Blue Devils since 15-10 victory on March 21, 2013. Following the game, Davis ranked second in the Sac-Joaquin Section while St. Francis sat fourth, according to the website MaxPreps. Both teams actually compete in the North Coast Section for CIF postseason purposes.
Freshman Karly Okamoto added two goals with a pair of assists, senior Abby Alvernaz chipped in another goal and two dimes, while Elizabeth Barger and Louise Morr also scored. Barger also nabbed a key steal on a Davis clear attempt in the final minute of the game, effectively sealing the win.
Other than a 2-0 start for the Blue Devils, senior Bella McCullough largely kept the Davis attack in check early on, posting four saves in the first 15 minutes. Smith scored on a drive to put SFHS on the board in the sixth minute, but Blue Devil sophomore Tory Agnew answered with a goal and an assist as part of a 3-0 stretch, extending the deficit to 5-1.
Alvernaz ended the run with her quick-stick goal on a feed from Okamoto with 7:09 to go, then Davis' Grace Scheuring answered back on a crease roll just 42 seconds later. Blue Devil midfielder Devon Morris won the next draw and advanced straight to the cage with 6:15 left, increasing her team's lead to 7-2. Okamoto scored on a roll of her own with 1:58 remaining to set the halftime score at 7-3.
St. Francis continued this comeback early the second, first when Okamoto set up Barger for a goal just 1:05 in, then when Morr scored through the Davis High goalie's five hole at 22:43. Davis called a timeout, only to surrender three more goals. Smith had a shot stuffed by goalkeeper Stella Cardenas, but won the ground ball and completed the second chance at 22:05, cutting the lead to one. McCullough came up with another big save on the opposite end, then Alvernaz assisted Smith for the equalizer with 20:07 on the clock.
Okamoto scored the go-ahead goal just 11 ticks later, but that lead proved to be short-lived. Davis freshman Katie McMullen faked and reversed to tie the game at 8-8 at the 18:13 mark. Okamoto's next attempt at a crease roll was halted by Cardenas. Meanwhile, McCullough made two more saves against Scheuring and Ruby Adler to keep the score tied up.
Davis eventually regained the lead with 13:18 remaining, as Agnew delivered a picturesque assist to Morris from the right side of the goal circle. Scheuring drew an eight-meter and an opportunity to extend the Blue Devil lead to two, but her shot missed wide. This began an outburst by Smith across a span of 80 seconds: the Delaware State-bound middie finished a long fast break to tie the game at 9-all with 10:49 to go. She converted a free position to put SFHS up at 10:05. Then Smith hauled in Alvernaz' pass in front of the cage and quickly deposited it into the net to make it 11-9 with 9:29 left.
Cardenas stopped a Barger eight-meter attempt then Devon Morris halved the lead to 11-10 with her goal at 7:29, but that ended up being the last goal in either direction. With just under a minute to go, Davis attempted to clear the ball from its defensive third, only to have Barger – a Davis resident herself – intercept the pass. The Troubies protected the ball in their critical scoring area for the last 40 seconds.
Davis won the previous 12 matchups with St. Francis, including the 13-9 victory at Mather Sports Complex just seven days earlier. Thursday's game was originally scheduled for March 11, but was postponed due to a security-related incident on the Davis campus earlier that afternoon. The two teams now share the Delta League lead at 8-1, with Rio Americano in third place.
Thursday's varsity win followed a 15-12 Troubadour win in the junior varsity game. Olivia Hamm tallied eight goals while Matea Avery provided a hat trick with two assists, which moves the SF jayvees to an 9-4 mark.
The JV game featured key runs by both teams in the first half: Avery had back-to-back eight-meter goals as part of a 4-0 stretch that turned a 3-3 tie with 13:34 to go into a 7-3 lead at the 5:13 mark. Chloe Tanner scored on a Chloe Garcia assist to complete that stretch. However, Davis responded with three unanswered to close the gap to 7-6 at the break.
Hamm completed the double hat trick with three straight goals early in the second: a drive through the eight, a ground ball and putback combination and fast break-turned-eight meter chance that extended the lead to 10-6 with 17:18 to go. Her eighth goal came off an interception by Avery at the 8:56 mark, setting the board at 13-8.
The Blue Devils chipped away to within a 13-10 deficit with 4:06 remaining, but Avery and Sofia Rabinovitz netted insurance goals – scores that mattered with Davis notched two more in the final minutes. With just 56 seconds remaining following Lena Kim's third goal for the Devils, Avery won the draw, advanced into the attacking area, and the Troubies protected to shut the door on the victory.
This marked the second win over Davis for the Troubie JV, despite missing several two of its highest scorers in Zia Smith and Olivia Alvernaz.
St. Francis heads into a bye as part of the school's two-week spring break. The varsity returns to action with games at Roseville (April 19) and Bella Vista (April 20), while the JV has just one game left on the slate, an April 22 visit to Rio Americano.
