MODESTO, Calif. – Senior Miranda Ferguson scored hat tricks in each game as St. Francis split the Gold championship bracket to place second at the Western States girls' water polo tournament at Johansen High School Saturday. The Troubadours defeated El Capitan, 8-5, in the semifinal; then fell to Merced by a final of 11-5 in the title game.

The Troubadours move to 14-6 for the season. The Gauchos fell to 16-3 overall while the Bears improved to 11-1. Oddly, El Capitan and Merced were St. Francis' final opponents in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and are semifinalists in last year's SJS Division II tourney.

Ferguson shot 3-for-4 with an assist and a steal in Saturday's semifinal against the Gauchos. Freshman Emma Dietrich added two scores, with Addison Hutchcraft, Audrey Ellis and Abigail Benavidez netting one apiece. Benavidez also logged two assists, five steals and a field block in the contest. Senior Sophia Santsche-Chavez posted 10 saves with an assist and a steal.

The Troubies led 4-2 at the halftime break and 7-4 through three quarters.

In Saturday's final, Hutchcraft and Ellis chipped in one goal each to support Ferguson's hat trick, while Santsche-Chavez posted 15 saves. St. Francis trailed just 2-1 through the first quarter and 6-3 at the halftime break, but shot 2-for-8 in the second half as the Bears pulled away for the victory. The Troubies also committed 19 turnovers against Merced, in contrast to the seven surrendered versus last year's section runner-up.

Benavidez and Ferguson now sit 1-2 atop the team scoring leaders with 48 and 47 goals, respectively. Santsche-Chavez broke the double century mark in saves, now boasting 218 stops against 123 goals for a .639 average. Last year, she became the first SF player in the MaxPreps era (2013-present) to surpass 300 in a season, ultimately finishing with 356.

The Troubies rejoin their junior varsity sisters as part of a Sierra Foothill League quadrupleheader at Granite Bay on Monday. JV  squares off with the Grizzlies at 4 p.m., with varsity following at 5 p.m. GB entered the weekend ranked No. 1 in the SJS by MaxPreps, with St. Francis at No. 6. Meanwhile, El Capitan and Merced held the No. 3 and 4 spots on the site's leaderboard prior to the Western States tourney.