MATHER, Calif. – Senior midfielder Keira Miles scored a goal and assisted another, junior Lucia Shepard led the defensive crew with three ground balls, and freshman goalkeeper Britten Sires halted six shots, but St. Francis ultimately fell to top-ranked and undefeated Del Oro, 15-3, in Sierra Foothill League girls' lacrosse action at Mather Sports Complex Thursday night.

The Troubadours, hosting their final regular-season home game, slips to 9-4 overall and 8-4 in league play. The Golden Eagles, the area's No. 1 team by MaxPreps, improve to 14-0 for the year with an unblemished 11-0 SFL record.

Miles also scooped up a team-high four draw controls, the first of which gave SF its first possession nearly four minutes into the contest. She assisted Gillian Hamm for the first Troubie goal at 5:55 in the first, then successfully drove through the arc with 1:34 remaining in the third. Meanwhile, senior Jade Abalateo had her team's second goal, finding the net with 37 ticks before halftime.

Del Oro scored four unanswered to start the game, including three by junior Ellie Rivera during a span of 41 seconds. Rivera led the Golden Eagles with seven goals, five in that opening quarter. Sisters Sydney and Riley Weber combined for another five DO scores. Impressively, the Golden Eagles have outscored their opponents by a 213-50 overall margin, or a 15-4 average margin.

Natalia Zitelli grabbed another two draw controls, while Hamm and Skye Smith each picked up one. In all, DO won 14 of the overall 22 draws to dominate possession. However, Shepard's three GB pickups plus a caused turnover and separate ground ball from senior defender Lena Schnack also helped St. Francis work in its offensive third. Once with the ball, the Troubies stuck to a patient game – a strategy illustrated when Miles' draw control after the 9:27 goal in the first eventually led to the Miles-Hamm connection at the 5:55 mark.

The varsity loss followed 12-2 setback for the SF junior varsity. The Troubies actually struck first, after Maura McManus picked up the first of her seven ground balls in front of her own cage. Multiple DO fouls plus a yellow card later, she made the finish with 9:32 to go in the first. Sophomore Elena Petrakis had the final St. Francis goal with 5:39, also scoring on a ground ball and a long counterattack.

Still, the Golden Eagles poured in 12 straight goals in between the two SF tallies: four in the first quarter, four more in the second, three in the third and one more in the fourth.

Freshman Hope Sperber had a steal and three GBs of her own, with junior Claire Gabri helping simmer down the DO scoring with four saves plus a ground ball (off the Sperber caused turnover) in her second half in the circle.

St. Francis enters its final week of the SFL season with doubleheaders at Oak Ridge (Tuesday) and Davis (Thursday). Entering Thursday's game, the Troubies sat No. 4 in MaxPreps' Sac-Joaquin Section rankings, with the Trojans at No. 3 and Blue Devils at No. 6. Thus, the two road games should figure heavily in the section postseason, which begin on April 28.