RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. – Junior Zia Smith and sophomore Keira Miles each scored hat tricks, with Miles controlling half of the game's 20 draws, as St. Francis overcame an early deficit to claim an 11-5 win over Davis in a Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal at Mather Sports Complex Thursday night.

The second-seeded Troubadours improve to 11-3 for the season and advance to the inaugural CIF-SJS championship game, held at Christian Brothers' Peter P. Bollinger Stadium on Saturday. The Blue Devils end their season at 7-9.

Smith scored all three of her goals with a span of two minutes and 17 seconds in the second quarter. In fact, that entire period served as an inflection point for SF, which surrendered a 2-0 start with only one shot in the opening frame. The Troubies won the first five draws, with four going to Miles, as the two-goal deficit flipped to a 5-2 advantage by the 19th minute of the contest. Smith netted quick-stick goals from Olivia Hamm and Karly Okamoto to put SF up by a 3-2 margin, then senior Jane Tattersall's drive at the 5:43 mark made it 4-2. Okamoto then fed Miles for a fifth unanswered score with 4:59 to go.

Davis' Katie McMullen scored the game's first goal and interrupted the Troubie second-quarter run as part of her overall hat trick. Ironically, two solid defensive efforts by McMullen led directly to SF goals in the 5-0 stretch. She checked a ball loose, only to have to Brynley Hodge pick it up and go straight to the net for the first Troubadour goal of the game. McMullen also blocked a pass but no DHS teammate could grab the ground ball. Instead, Tattersall won possession and drove to the goal.

St. Francis led at halftime, 6-3, then pulled away to 9-4 on goals by Hodge, Miles and Tattersall in the third. McMullen completed her hat trick in the 44th minute, but the Troubies continued its success on the draw to limit Blue Devil possession time. Okamoto drove for a goal with 3:01 left, with Hodge winning the ensuing draw. Then Tattersall set up Miles at the 2:04 mark, with Hamm scooping up the DC. St. Francis maintained possession the rest of the way to lock up the win.

Overall, Hamm finished with two caused turnovers and three ground balls, continuing her trend of pressuring opponents in their defensive third. Senior Elizabeth Barger led SF with four ground balls. Okamoto and Tattersall each had a game-high three assists. Freshman goalkeeper Jayel Miller posted a save in each half, including one at the first-quarter horn against Ruby Adler.

Not surprisingly, the draw proved crucial in the contest, as it had in the Troubies' 12-11 loss at Davis two weeks earlier. While Davis dominated that part of the game in its fourth quarter comeback on April 19, St. Francis won 13 of the 20, with six out of the eight in that second stanza.

The Troubies will face the winner of the Oak Ridge-Del Oro semifinal at noon on Saturday. Tickets are available only at GoFan (https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFSJS?activity=Lacrosse).