Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Bracket

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior Lindsey Piatanesi scored twice in the first half and top-seeded St. Francis soccer team cruised to a 6-1 win over No. 16 Del Oro in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs Wednesday.

"It felt really good and definitely scoring the first goal got us really hyped up," said Piatanesi.

Piantanesi scored in the 10th minute of the contest, giving St. Francis the early lead. Senior Jackie Koerwitz followed three minutes later for a 2-0 advantage.

"Elise got the ball and I yelled at her to touch it," said Koerwitz. "It was all I needed and I was able to take a good shot."

Piatanesi added her second goal of the half in the 29th minute.

"We definitely wanted to attack them," said Koerwitz. "We started with a high press and kept going at it. The first goal was by Piat (Lindsey Piatanesi) was a great goal and I got the second. Piat got the third and by halftime we were in control."

Piatanesi leads the team in scoring on the season with 12 goals and ranks second in points. She recorded her third multi-goal game of the season.

"The aggressiveness was super good and we knew what we were going to do when we got the ball," said Piatanesi. "We always had more than one option."

Sophomore Marcela Forero-Pretto added a goal in the eighth minute of the second half for her fourth of the season with junior Grace Barger adding a goal for her sixth.

"Janae had the ball and pulled the goalkeeper out wide and beat her," said Barger. "She played it in and I got a foot on it."

Senior Janae DeFazio assisted on two goals on Wednesday with senior Elise Urkov and Koerwitz adding assists. Del Oro scored to end the shutout bid before Koerwitz completed the scoring with her second for the final 6-1 margin. She now has seven on the season and recorded her first multi-goal game.

"I felt like my normal self, dribbling (past) a few players and then shooting it," said Koerwitz. "It felt really good."

St. Francis will play No. 8 seed Rio Americano, who was a 1-0 winner over Bella Vista. Other winners on Wednesday include No. 12 Lincoln-L over No. 5 Vacaville 2-1, No. 13 Woodland over No. 4 Vacaville 1-0, No. 3 Ponderosa over No.14 Woodcreek 5-1, No. 6 Central Valley over No. 11 Bear Creek 6-0, No. 7 St. Mary's over No. 10 Rodriguez 2-0 and No. 2 Whitney over No. 15 Oakmont 3-0.

"We started off with super well with super high intensity and that is what we wanted to do," said Koerwitz. "Now we go into the rest of playoffs and keep going forward."

St. Francis and Rio Americano were scheduled to play earlier this season but the game canceled and not rescheduled.

"It feels great," said Barger. "We got a lot of goals today which we have kinda struggled with in the past against good teams. So this is really good motivation and we excited to see what comes next in the playoffs."

Friday's game will be held on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Cristo Rey High School. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children.

D2 Girls Soccer Results:

St. Francis 6, Del Oro 1

Rio Americano 1, Bella Vista 0

Lincoln-L 2, Roseville 1

Woodland 1, Vacaville 0

Ponderosa 5, Woodcreek 1

Central Valley 6, Bear Creek 0

St. Mary's 2, Rodriguez 0

Whitney 3, Oakmont 0