MATHER, Calif. – Senior midfielder Jade Abalateo scored five goals with two assists while fellow 12th-grade middie Keira Miles added a hat trick plus six draw controls, as St. Francis rolled past Rocklin, 13-1, in the varsity nightcap of a Sierra Foothill League girls' lacrosse doubleheader at Mather Sports Complex Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 7-3 for the season, and hold third place in the SFL with a 6-3 mark. The Thunder drops to 2-9 overall, 1-7 in league play.
The varsity game followed a thrilling 5-4 victory for St. Francis' junior varsity, with Hannah Chitiea scoring the game-winner for one of her two goals, and Claire Gabri posting a game-saving stop in the final minutes. The overall doubleheader also featured the program's annual "Booster-Q" barbecue, a halftime exhibition of the Sacramento Lacrosse Association's youth girls teams, and a Senior Night ceremony for eight 2026 graduates: Abalateo, Miles, Sara Ellis, Nevaeh Gavino, Elle Lofing, Mia Nelson and Lena Schnack, plus manager Akira Feguis. Ellis, a UC Davis-bound player sidelined for the entire season, was further honored with a ceremonial first draw.
Freshman Gillian Hamm chipped in two more goals plus a team-leading three ground balls. Sophomore Skye Smith also scored a brace to go with an assist, two GBs and two DCs. Junior Lizzie David finished with a goal and an assist.
St. Francis netted seven unanswered goals to start the game, with Abalateo or Miles figuring on all but one of the seven. Abalateo had the first goal on a drive, then the fourth on an eight-meter opportunity. She finished her hat trick on a Miles assist to end the first quarter, then assisted Hamm on the game's seventh goal to start the second. Miles drove through the arc at the 8:33 and 5:00 marks in the first before posting the dime to Abalateo with 0:32 to go.
Smith landed her first goal on a crease roll in the initial 5-0 outburst, then converted an assist from Bridget Beard for the game's final scoring play.
After a 7-1 halftime lead, St. Francis slowed down the offense, and looked to score only assisted goals for the remainder of the game. Abalateo fed Hamm and Miles for two goals, converted a Hamm assist at 4:19, then scored from the eight-meter arc with 1:46 left in the third to invoke the running clock. Smith found David by the left post at 10:15 in the fourth before finding the back of the net on Beard's pass with 3:20 left in the game.
In the JV opener, Elena Petrakis, Millie Katzeff and Bonnie Cohen added goals to Chitiea's total, with Cohen also leading her team with three caused turnovers and four DCs en route to the 5-4 victory.
Petrakis put the Troubies on the board with her cut through the arc at 8:34 in the first, then Katzeff scooped up a ground ball in her defensive third and scampered all the way to the attacking end for the finish just 80 seconds later. However, the Thunder answered with two quick scores: Sophia Artus on a roll quickly after the Katzeff goal, then Kinley Cambron with the first of her overall hat trick.
Chitiea and Cohen buried eight-meter chances to reclaim a 4-2 lead for St. Francis, only for Cambron to find the net on either side of the halftime break to equalize the game yet again at 4-4. Finally, Chitiea lifted the Troubies back up when she stole back her own lost ball, then fired into the Rocklin cage to make it 5-4 with 10:19 remaining in the third.
The Troubies enjoyed two minutes of respite from Cambron's offense when the high-scoring freshman picked up a yellow card. However, they also couldn't add to their lead during that time, with Chitiea's eight-meter shot sailing wide and Katzeff's shot getting halted in the circle. Key defensive plays from Cohen, Petrakis and Maura McManus helped SF hold down the Thunder, as did two late saves from Gabri. Cambron took the last shot of the game on a drive through the arc, with Gabri scooping up the save to preserve the win.
Thursday's action begins a two-week break from competition for St. Francis, which returns to action during the second week of the school's spring break. The Troubies host Granite Bay on Thursday, April 9. Game times are the usual 5:30 p.m. (JV) and 7:15 p.m. (varsity) at Mather.
