SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Seniors Caitlin Hafenstein and Yasmin Azar each scored a brace to lead St. Francis varsity to the first of back-to-back 5-0 shutouts in a non-league girls' prep soccer doubleheader at Cristo Rey's Adamson Family Field Tuesday night.
The Troubadours improve to 2-0 in their home opener.
The SF Gold junior varsity squad followed with a 5-0 win of its own, with sophomore Holland Sperber and freshman Ryleigh Czerniec each posting a goal and assist. JV Gold moves to 3-0 for the year.
Hafenstein scored the Troubies' lone goal of the first half in the varsity opener, converting a long assist from sophomore Miley Blough in the 15th minute. SF then piled up four goals after the break, starting with Elizabeth Barger's header on a Jada Dwyre throw-in just three minutes into the second half.
Hafenstein extended the lead to 3-0 when Barger gained possession, sent a pass to Sofia Rabinovitz, who then crossed to Hafenstein for the goal in the 56th minute. Barger later initiated another scoring play, delivering a pass to Blough, who then set up Azar from just beyond the 18 in the 61st. Azar completed her brace unassisted in the 66th.
McClatchy did not manage a shot until Nataly Barraza missed wide of her target in the 14th, then didn't put one on goal until the extra time in the first place. Barraza put a head on a shot on frame, only to have senior goalkeeper Maggie Buffleben pull down the attempt.
In similar fashion, JV Red outshot its guest by a whopping 40-1 margin, including a 25-0 edge in the first half. Only junior forward Peri Cressman had any look at the Troubie cage, with her shot missing wide right.
Meanwhile, the Troubies rolled up four goals before the intermission: Sperber assisted Czerniec in the seventh, Czerniec then paid it forward for Lily Hall in the 11th. Junior captain Angelina Chavez found the back of the net thanks to an outlet from Marissa Ow in the 22nd to make it 3-0. Finally, freshman Norah White split a pair of Lion defenders and blasted in a shot from 20 yards out in the 29th.
St. Francis largely shut down the offense in the second, only allowing players to dribble in the CKM penalty box. Still, the Troubies unloaded 15 more shots, with six on goal, including Sperber's strike from Madeline Squaglia in the 52nd minute.
Sophomore Gabriela Briscoe went the distance at keeper and gets credit for a shutout despite rarely even touching the ball.
All three St. Francis soccer teams compete at River City's Raider Cup Classic on Friday and Saturday. Friday's slate consists of six total games for the Troubies: Gold vs. Inderkum (8:30 a.m.), varsity vs. Ponderosa (9:45 a.m.), Red vs. Pondo (11 a.m.), Gold vs. Liberty Ranch (12:15 p.m.), Red vs. River City (1:30 p.m.) with varsity finishing the day against the host Raiders at 5:15 p.m. Each team plays one game early on Saturday, with the chance to advance to a first- or third-place game that evening.
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