WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Freshman attacker Norah White drew a foul in the box and converted the ensuing penalty kick, then the defense allowed that goal to stand up, as St. Francis' JV Gold squad blanked Vacaville, 1-0, in the title game of the Raider Cup girls' junior varsity soccer tournament at River City High Saturday.
The JV Gold win offset a tougher day for their JV Red and varsity sisters. JV Red lost in a 2-0 shutout to Del Campo for its tourney finale, while varsity suffered a 2-0 upset loss to Del Campo before falling by a 5-0 final to the host Raiders in the third-place game.
The Raider Cup consisted of two 12-team tournament fields – one for varsity and one for JV teams. Both St. Francis varsity and JV Gold entered Day 2 atop the tourney standings. However, their respective path diverged after the morning action. Gold erased a 1-0 deficit against Rocklin by scoring four unanswered to secure a spot in the championship game, while varsity's setback against the Cougars dropped the Troubadours into a tie for fourth place with Elk Grove.
Madeline Squaglia scored a goal with two assists in the win over Rocklin. She sent a cross to Holland Sperber, who put a soft touch into the net for the equalizer in the 25th minute. Squaglia later reversed roles in the 49th, collecting a feed from White on a second-chance opportunity. That set the board at 3-1, about four minutes after White had assisted Marissa Ow on the go ahead in the 45th. Ow's shot split two defenders then went through the gloves of the Thunder goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Squaglia's second assist went to junior Angelina Chavez, who rotated enough to strike Squaglia's pass with the outside of her shoe, knocking the ball into the cage for the Troubies' fourth goal.
Then in the title game, White earned a trip to the 12-meter mark when she was tripped just inside the box while advancing on the Bulldog goal. She planted the ensuing kick to lift SF to the 1-0 lead in just the sixth minute of the game. The Troubies managed nine more shots in the first half, and nearly had an own goal in their favor, but did not add to the lead. Meanwhile, freshman goalkeeper Gianna Flesoras came up with a diving save in the final seconds before the break, also protecting the scoring margin.
Flesoras had one more save in the second half to record a shutout, while defenders Charlotte Lippi and Lacey Harmon prevented any further Vacaville attempts.
The SF varsity suffered its first loss of the season in unusual fashion, falling to a then-winless Del Campo to close out the tourney's pool play. The contest hit a critical point when Jada Dwyre unsuccessfully sent a pass to Giada Pagano on the left side of the box. While attempting to stop the speedy Dwyre, Cougar goalkeeper Jordyn James collided with her defender Regan Johnson. Both DC players left the game, and Tyler Mitchell took over in net, wearing a practice pinny instead of the keeper's jersey.
Soon after, Mitchell posted a save against a hard shot from Troubie senior Yasmin Azar. Perhaps fired up from this turn of events, Del Campo scored the game's lone goal just a minute later as Savannah Jurgens found herself in a 1-v-1. Oddly, that was the lone Cougar shot before the break and one of only four for the game, but it was enough to send SF to the third-place matchup with River City.
The host Raiders got revenge for the Troubies' 3-1 win less than 24 hours earlier. Isabel Amador unsealed the SF goal in the 16th minute, then Ava Johnson converted a penalty kick in the 33rd. River City continued with three goals in the span of eight minutes early in the second to pad its lead to 5-0.
The Troubies had their chances to keep pace in the first half, but Raider keeper Serenity Younce notched six saves before the break, including a diving stop against Azar in the 30th. Additional chances came in the second half, with several of the younger varsity players threatening to spoil the shutout. Sophomore Miley Blough stepped in to launch a pair of long free kicks, but each just missed its target. Junior Sofia Rabinovitz even unleashed a bicycle kick into the mixer, while Johnson made a save against her header in the box.
JV Red returns to action on Monday with a 3 p.m. home game against Oak Ridge on the campus's grass field, then all three teams engage in a Wednesday tripleheader: varsity and JV Gold against Pleasant Grove in the Delta League opener, followed by JV Red against Folsom, all at Cristo Rey. The Wednesday event features the annual soccer Booster-Q barbecue and the team's holiday toy drive for the Stanford Settlement's Operation Cratchit.
