SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior midfielder Tacori Abril scored her first hat trick while fellow 11th-grader Piper Sherburne totaled two goals and two assists, leading St. Francis to a 7-0 shutout of Sheldon in the varsity opener of Wednesday's Delta League girls' soccer doubleheader at Cristo Rey High.
The Troubadours remain undefeated with a 14-0-3 overall record and a 9-0-1 slate in league play. The varsity win preceded an 8-0 victory by St. Francis' JV Gold squad, with seven of the eight goals belonging to first-time scorers in 2022-23.
Abril, whose previous high was a brace against Elk Grove three weeks earlier, netted all three goals within a span of 10 minutes. Caitlin Hafenstein assisted the first of the goals in the seventh minute, setting the board at 2-0. Abril's second and third goals came on crosses from Sherburne in the 10th and 16th, respectively. This was after Sherburne opened the scoring just 1:51 into the game, finishing on a through ball from Jianna Reyes.
Reyes scored a goal of her own in the 18th, extending the lead to 5-0. St. Francis opted to shut down the offense at that point to avoid running up the score any further. Still, the Troubies added two inadvertent goals in the second half. Sherburne sent a cross from the right side that managed to find its way into the Husky cage in the 69th. Then Hafenstein scored with less than two minutes remaining on an errant ball that made its way into the mixer in front of the goal.
In the JV nightcap, the Troubie Gold squad opted to play its defenders up front, while positioning usual attackers on the back line. While Estella Bacsafra and Chloe Rhodes-Nguyen enjoyed most of the early chances, it was Matea Avery who broke up the scoreless tie in the 13th minute on a cross from Bacsafra. Rhodes-Nguyen then followed with back-to-back scores, first on a stolen goal kick in the 24th, then again on a feed from Ruby Ellis in the 28th.
Freshman Emma Bugarin fired in her first goal of the season from 25 yards out in the 30th minute to extend the lead to 4-0. Ellis followed in the 35th, as a pass from Sarah Bashore slipped past the Sheldon keeper and straight to Ellis in the box.
In the second half, St. Francis looked to set up two more defenders – sophomore Ellie Cook and freshman Marissa Ow – at the opposite wingers. The Huskies scored an own goal in the 45th to make it 6-0, with Ow and Cook finding the back of the net in the 62nd and 67th. Avery also made her debut at goalkeeper, with Angelina Delaini getting to play the field. However, Avery did not face a shot, and Delaini did not get a shot.
The Troubies' Gold has now won 13 straight games, improving to 16-1 overall and 10-0 against the Delta League.
St. Francis varsity returns to action on Monday for a road game at Elk Grove. JV Gold hosts Rio Americano on Friday before joining their varsity sisters in the doubleheader with the Herd. The Troubies' JV Red will follow Gold on Friday's twinbill, hosting River City at 6 p.m.
