SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior center Ava Stimson scored a total of eight goals in two games as St. Francis varsity split its Friday schedule of the fifth-annual Grizzly Classic prep girls' water polo tournament, held at both host Granite Bay High School and American River College.
The Troubadours played both games at the ARC site, beating Rocklin by an 11-4 final before falling to Lodi, 6-4, in a rematch of their NorCal Invite meeting.
Stimson scored six goals in the opener against the Thunder, then followed with two scores versus the Flames. Gauri Mathrakott also performed a hat trick against Rocklin, while Ashlyn Brock netted the remaining two goals. Brock also scored in the fourth against Lodi.
St. Francis and Lodi matched up evenly for the first half, holding at 2-2 through the first quarter and 3-3 at the break. Then Stimson exploded for five goals in the second half, including two 6-on-5 conversions to start the third quarter. This ignited a run of seven unanswered Troubie goals across a span of 10 minutes. Senior LK Holliday led SF with three assists in the win, while Abigail Benavidez and Sophia Santsche-Chavez each earned two.
In the evening contest, St. Francis struggled to 1-for-12 shooting in the first half, with the lone score coming on a Stimson goal from set. The Troubies trailed 4-1 at the break, then rallied early in the third: Piper Brostrom's steal halted a Flame power-play opportunity, then Stimson again scored on a Holliday assist at two meters. Mathrakott came up with one of her six total steals in the game, then drew an exclusion to give SF a 6-on-5 chance. However, Shelby Richardson posted a field block on Stimson's attempt, ending the power play.
Lodi then tacked on two 6-on-5 goals to extend its lead to 6-2 down the stretch of the third quarter. Morgan Vice scored with 2:34 on the clock, then assisted Laine Woodard on the next trip down. Flames goalie Kylie Richardson also stopped a five-meter penalty shot in the late stages of the third frame, one of 10 saves for the contest.
Piper Brostrom fired in St. Francis' final goal of the game on a counterattack with 34 ticks remaining.
Stimson's six-goal performance against Rocklin marked her third straight double hat trick of the season: she hit seven against Bella Vista, then six in Tuesday's Holy Water matchup with Christian Brothers (she did not play in the intervening NorCal Invite).
The Troubies will face Del Campo in Saturday's opener at 7:45 a.m., then come back to take on El Camino at 2:10 p.m. Both games take place at ARC.
