SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Piper Brostrom scored four goals while sophomore Sophia Santsche-Chavez posted 11 saves – including seven in the fourth quarter – with three assists, helping St. Francis pull away to a 9-3 win over Rocklin in the varsity girls' portion of a Sierra Foothill League water polo quadrupleheader at Jesuit High Monday.

The Troubadours improve to 10-5 for the season and strengthen their hold on third place in the SFL with a 5-2 league mark. Rocklin slips to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in SFL play.

Additionally, St. Francis junior varsity picked up its first win of the season, with sophomore Maya Wenceslao hooting a perfect 7-for-7 in an 11-9 win over the Thunder in the opener.

Senior Abigail Benavidez chipped in another two goals, including one on a five-meter penalty courtesy of Miranda Ferguson's work at two meters. Frannie Wells, Erin Maeng and Audrey Ellis each scored one in the second half to help the Troubies explode to a 7-1 second half.

The SF varsity started out on a relative cold streak, missing on its first seven shots. In fact, only one such attempt – by Santsche-Chavez at the first-quarter buzzer – was on goal during that span. Fortunately, Rocklin only managed one goal in the opener, on an Elizabeth Rhodes 6-on-5 conversion less than two minutes after the opening sprint.

Brostrom put the Troubies on the board in the first minute of the second quarter, as Addison Hutchcraft's steal at the 3-4 spot allowed Santsche-Chavez to deliver an outlet to Brostrom. Benavidez' penalty shot gave SF a 2-1 lead, but Olivia Madril assisted Taylor Humbert for another power-play goal after the next restart to even the contest at 2-2 with 2:14 left.

The low-scoring impasse did not last long after the break, as St. Francis exploded for three goals in the first 1:39 of the third quarter: Benavidez assisted Brostrom at two meters at 6:49, then scored a bar-in goal of her own at 6:14. Then Maeng buried a cross-cage lob to extend the lead to 5-2 less than a minute later. With about 3:30 remaining, Maeng fired again from the same spot but her shot clanged off the crossbar to Ellis, who scored the putback and made it 6-2 for four straight goals.

Rocklin's only second-half goal came Celeste Contratto got a shot through the Troubie field block. Brostrom completed her hat trick on the other hand when she stole the ball from the Thunder goalie with 2:19 left. Rocklin had another chance to cut into the lead when Rhodes drew a five-meter foul, but Madril's penalty shot sailed high of the cage.

SF added two more goals in the fourth: Wells from set and another Santsche-Chavez connection with Brostrom to finish a counterattack. That second goal came on the heels of one of the Troubie net-minder's seven blocks in front of the cage. Santsche-Chavez now has 162 saves against 99 goals for the season for a sizzling .621 average.

The JV contest began closely and ended with a Thunder comeback in the fourth, but Wenceslao's scoring plus six saves from freshman goalie Sasha Michon kept the Troubies in front. Della Smith added another two while Ava Jack and Kendal Douglas posted one each. SF went on a 4-0 overall run from the midpoint of the second quarter to early in the third.

In all, the St. Francis jayvees led 3-2 after six minutes, then 6-3 at the halftime break and 9-4 through three. Rocklin managed four goals in the final three minutes, including 6-on-5 conversions with 1:17 and 0:33 left, but the Troubies largely managed to kill the clock down the stretch.

The Troubie JV team moves to 1-14 for the year and 1-6 in league play. The 11 goals represents the squad's highest offensive output, eclipsing the seven scored at Rocklin back on September 11. In fact, it marks the most since October 14 last season in an 11-1 victory over Vintage at the CKM JV Scamble at McClatchy.

Both SF teams now head into a relatively late addition to the schedule, the "Holy Water" rivalry game with Christian Brothers on Thursday. Game times are 6:30 (varsity) and 7:30 (JV) at American River College.