SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Keira Miles scored a double hat trick, while senior Jane Tattersall, senior Brynley Hodge and junior Olivia Hamm each added three goals as No. 2-seeded St. Francis rolled past No. 7-seed Christian Brothers, 18-1, in the first round of the inaugural Sac-Joaquin Section girls' lacrosse championship tournament at Mather Sports Complex Tuesday.
The Troubadours, who qualified for the postseason by virtue of the Delta League championship, improve to 10-3 for the year. The Falcons, co-winners of the Foothill Valley League, wrap their season at 12-4.
The matchup served as an ad hoc version of the "Holy Sticks" rivalry game that usually exists between the two major all-Catholic girls' programs in the area. The two teams had squared off 18 previous times, including every non-COVID-impacted season since 2016, but no such game appeared on the 2024 slate. Instead, the launch of a SJS championship and the quirk of the seedings resulted in an SF-CB game after all.
Senior Elizabeth Barger added two more goals while junior Karly Okamoto chipped a goal and a team-leading four assists. Hodge and Tattersall also won six and five draw controls, respectively, as St. Francis dominated that category by a 15-5 margin.
One relatively unsung performance belonged to Hamm, a low attacker who pressured CB into six broken clear attempts, further helping to keep the ball in the Troubies' attacking third for the majority of the game. Hamm did score a caused turnover and ground ball combination near the far left corner, but her defense otherwise does not officially appear on the stat sheets.
In fact, it was one of the successful Falcon clear attempts that resulted in CB's lone goals. Goalkeeper McKenzie Sanchez abandoned the crease to chase down an errant shot in the ninth minute of the contest, then Tara Cooper finished on the other end with 2:46 left in the first quarter to cut the Troubie lead to 5-1.
However, St. Francis scored 13 unanswered in the second half. Tattersall scored back-to-back in the second to complete her hat trick, while Hodge netted two goals early in the fourth for her second and third. Hamm spread her goals out in the first, third and fourth frames.
Miles converted half of her goals from the eight-meter arc, while a free position at the 12-meter fan resulted in her assist to Hodge in the third minute of the game. She tacked on her fifth and sixth in the final three minutes of the game to complete her second double hat trick of her career. Miles previously netted six at Davis in March of her freshman season.
St. Francis will host No. 6 Davis, which enjoyed a 14-13 upset of Granite Bay on Tuesday night. This will be the third meeting between the two league rivals in 2024, with both teams prevailing on their respective home fields in the regular season. First draw is 6 p.m. at Mather Sports Complex.
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