SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Freshman Victoria Tateishi won a footrace with a Panther defender with 3:30 left in the contest, but the late offensive momentum failed to erase an early deficit as St. Francis' Red junior varsity lost to West Park, 2-1, in non-league girls' prep soccer action at Adamson Family Sports Complex Friday night.
The Troubadours snap their three-game unbeaten streak, moving to 2-11-5 for the year. The Panthers win their fifth straight to improve to 8-3-1 overall.
West Park crafted a 2-0 lead in the first half, thanks to goals by sophomore Skyla Shepard in the 20th and 24th minutes. Shepard nearly completed a hat trick five minutes into the second half, but SF goalkeeper Celeste Ramos came up with one of her six saves.
Meanwhile, Tateishi did her best to cut into the Panther lead out of the gates after halftime. She fired three shots in a span of three minutes, with two on goal, but WP's keeper was there for the stop. Instead, it took until the 77th minute, when Gabriella Santiago played a ball up to Tateishi, who outdueled Courtney Sawin in the penalty box before connecting on her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
St. Francis managed one last opportunity to tie the contest by earning a corner kick as time expired. However, West Park successfully cleared its defensive third, and the game was whistled over immediately after.
Friday's game marked the fourth game in a seven-day span for the Troubies' youngest squad. However, Red has Saturday off while St. Francis' JV Gold and varsity squads host Christian Brothers for the annual "Holy Cup" rivalry game of the area's two largest girls' Catholic school programs. Game times are noon for Gold, 2 p.m. for varsity, also at Cristo Rey's Adamson Family Sports Complex.
