SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior Abigail Benavidez scored four goals for the day, senior goalkeeper Sophia Santsche-Chavez totaled 25 saves in two games, while senior Lydia Vlahos netted the game-winning goal 28 seconds in the sudden victory, lifting St. Francis to wins over Inderkum and Ponderosa in Saturday's portion of Granite Bay's Grizzly Classic girls' water polo tourney.

Both of the Troubadours games took place at the alternate site, Rio Americano High School. They overcame a slow start in each win, beating the Tigers by a 10-3 final; then Vlahos' heroics finished off a 4-3 overtime victory against the Bruins in the nightcap.

St. Francis finished 3-1 for the tournament and improves to 7-4 on the season.

Five different Troubie players – Benavidez, Vlahos, Ashlyn Brock, Piper Brostrom and Reese Hughes – scored two goals each against Inderkum. Santsche-Chavez halted nine Tiger shots, including five in the fourth quarter. She also posted four steals in the first half. Then against Pondo, Benavidez netted two more goals, Brostrom hit a third, and Vlahos had the tally in the extra frame. Santsche Chavez posted 15 saves, with seven coming in a monstrous third period.

The Troubies struggled early against Inderkum, shooting 0-for-5 in the first quarter with just one shot on goal. Reese Hughes finally broke up the scoreless start with her goal at 5:52 in the second: Vlahos drew an ordinary foul at two meters, then kicked to an open Hughes at one, halving the Tiger lead to 2-1.This began a run of four unanswered SF goals before the halftime break, with Benavidez scoring from set and hitting the penalty shot on a five-meter foul she drew. Hughes finished a Brostrom assist on a counterattack with :29 left in the half, putting the Troubies in front, 4-2.

Benavidez assisted Brostrom on a power-play goal to start the third, then Brock hit back-to-back late in the quarter to extend the SF lead to 7-3 entering the fourth. Then it was Vlahos' turn to score in the fourth. She knocked down a shot from up top to start the frame, then won her battle at set with 4:12 left, making it 9-3. Brostrom finished with perhaps the most unusual goal of the day, when her shot glanced off the Inderkum field block, off the crossbar, then off the Tiger goalie's head before finding its way into the cage.

Still, in similar fashion to the Inderkum game, St. Francis could not find the back of the net early on. The Troubies missed on their first 14 shots, including 0-for-10 in the first, before Brostrom ended the drought with her counterattack with less than three minutes remaining in the half. Benavidez added a goal at the 1:37 mark after Brock drew an offensive foul. Brock fed upfield to Benavidez, who finished the job with a 2-2 equalizer.

Brostrom also came through with a huge defensive play at the end of the first half. Santsche-Chavez left the cage with one last possession with the hopes of taking a 3-2 halftime lead. Brostrom ended up with the shot, but Tiger goalie Penny Nelson came up with the save. With seconds remaining and Santsche-Chavez still retreating to her position, Nelson launched a nearly full-tank shot at what was otherwise an empty cage. Brostrom came up with a field save, holding the score at 2-2 going to halftime.

The second half proved to be a battle of the goalies, with both Santsche-Chavez and Nelson continually stopping shots on either end of the pool. Along the way, Santsche-Chavez blocked Madilynn Chapman on a counterattack, then later denied Kaelin Yoder's five-meter penalty shot. But both Chapman and Yoder got their revenge in the final seconds of the third, when they teamed up for a goal to put the Bruins up, 3-2.

With five minutes left in the fourth, Brock had another shot saved by Nelson, but Brostrom drew a penalty foul in the ensuing scrum for the rebound. Benavidez went to the stripe to score the 3-3 equalizer. Vlahos had three shots down the stretch of regulation, but two barred out and one ended up in Nelson's hands.

Under the tournament rules, sudden victory went into effect in the first overtime, making the opening sprint particularly crucial. Brock won that ball, and St. Francis set up its offense. Despite a malfunctioning shot clock, Vlahos landed a shot with 2:32 showing on the clock, converting a Brock assist and completing the sudden victory for the Troubies.

St. Francis returns to action on Monday with a doubleheader at Granite Bay. This is a rescheduled game from a date earlier in the season that the Troubies had to postpone. Game times are 6 p.m. for varsity, 7 p.m. for JV.