DAVIS, Calif. – The senior tandem of Brynley Hodge and Jane Tattersall combined for seven goals while goalkeeper Jayel Miller logged eight of her 11 saves in the first half, but St. Francis lost a wild Delta League girls' lacrosse showdown at Davis by a final of 12-11.
The Troubadours slip to 8-3 for the season and suffer their first league loss to move to 4-1. They now sit a half game up on second-place Vista Del Lago (3-1), with Davis now in third (3-2). The Eagles will take on the Troubies and Blue Devils in the final week of the regular season.
St. Francis enjoyed individual performances up and down the roster. Hodge netted four goals and Tattersall shot 3-for-4 to lead the offense. Hamm assisted Hodge and Sara Ellis from the X, then had a third assist to Hodge off a Tattersall steal in the third to give the Troubies their largest lead of 11-5. Meanwhile, defender Brianna McGahan posted four caused turnovers and midfielder Zia Smith won five draw controls. Tattersall picked up another four DCs to supplement her scoring output.
Still, the draw proved critical in Davis' fourth-quarter comeback. Facing an 11-6 deficit heading into the finale, Katie McMullen won four of the first five draws of the fourth, sparking a 5-0 run to tie the contest at 11-11. Elise Thompson scored two goals in that run, then assisted Faith Heringer for the equalizer.
Miles finally interrupted Davis' dominance of the draw and earned a trip to the eight-meter mark to give SF a chance to reclaim the lead. Instead, Blue Devil goalkeeper Sakinah Chantit halted the shot for one of her seven saves in just 30 total minutes in the crease.
Davis had a brief scare with McMullen had to leave the game due to injury, but she ultimately returned. She fired two attempts for the game-winner in the final four minutes, but Miller saved one and Tattersall blocked another. Meanwhile, the Troubies came up with big plays on defense, only to return the ball to their hosts soon after. An Elizabeth Barger steal followed by a McGahan ground ball, a Hodge caused turnover with Zia Smith's ground ball, and Cami Zucker's pick-up of Tattersall's blocked shot failed to materialize into offense. Zucker's grab with under a minute remaining gave SF its best chance, but credit Thompson for jumping the lane on a long pass to Karly Okamoto in the Troubies' attacking third.
With about 30 seconds left in regulation, sophomore Olivia Ayson drove from a self start to put Davis up by a 12-11 margin, the Devils' first lead since they took a 2-1 edge in the fifth minute. St. Francis called a timeout with the hope of forcing overtime, but McMullen won her ninth draw control of the game. She successfully outran the Troubies to run out the clock.
The massive Davis comeback erased what had been an impressive first half for St. Francis. Tattersall completed her hat trick in the first 11 minutes of the game, helping her team to a 6-2 lead in the first. Hodge converted assists from Miles and Hamm, and Okamoto turned a shooting space foul into an eight-meter score that kept the Troubies up by an 8-5 margin at the break. However, Chantit's entry midway through the second quarter provided a harbinger for the DSHS comeback. She posted saves against Hodge, Okamoto and Miles in the span of three minutes, plus another stop on an eight-meter attempt with 30 seconds before halftime.
St. Francis returns to action for its regular-season finale at Mather Sports Complex against Vista on April 24. That game serves as a Senior Night celebration for Barger, McGahan, Hodge, Tattersall and defender May Conlin. The JV plays at 5:30 with varsity following at 7 p.m., with the Senior Night festivities taking place immediately before the varsity game.
