WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Giuliana Del Guerra scored in the 12th minute, junior Madeline Squaglia added a goal in the 45th and freshman Mia Rabinovitz tallied 11 saves to propel St. Francis to a 2-1 win over Vacaville in the third-place game of River City High's Raider Cup Classic Saturday night. The Troubadours also blanked McClatchy, 2-0, earlier in the day to earn the extra contest.

St. Francis, which debuted at No. 1 on Premier Preps' first 2024-25 rankings this week, remains undefeated at 4-0-2. Saturday's finale also marked the second time the Troubies had faced the Bulldogs in as many days, with the two teams battling to a scoreless draw on Friday.

Meanwhile, St. Francis' JV Gold squad successfully defended its title in the junior varsity half of the tournament. The younger Troubies shut out CKM by the same 2-0 margin as varsity, then stormed past Christian Brothers, 4-1, in the championship. JV Gold moves to 5-0 for the season.

Del Guerra's goal began as a Miley Blough drive toward the left side of the box. While Vacaville managed to halt the junior Nevada commit, the ball made its way to the left flank to Holland Sperber, who then sent a pass back into the box to Del Guerra. SF came close to adding to that lead before halftime, with only a save by Bulldog junior Reese Fisher getting in the way of a Squaglia header on a corner kick soon after Del Guerra's strike. Blough later fired a missile that caught just enough of the crossbar to stay out of the cage in the 27th.

In the second half, the strong wind out of the south favored Vacaville, with St. Francis only managing three total shots. Still, Squaglia had one of those attempts, finding the back of the net from the right side of the box in the 45th. This came on the heels of Rabinovitz' save against sophomore scoring machine Samantha MacNiven.

In fact, it was due to a Rabinovitz' stop that the Bulldogs prevented a shutout. In the 48th, the Troubie freshman made a diving stop against shot from her right, but Vacaville senior Katie Thomas swooped in for the putback immediately after – the first goal St. Francis has allowed since its 2-2 draw to start the season.

The Troubie varsity previous scored two goals going against the wind in Saturday's opener with McClatchy. Defender Estella Bacsafra played a long outlet to Jada Dwyre, who hit the top shelf in the eighth minute of the game. Dwyre nearly assisted several goals later in the game, but SF could not turn her well-placed crosses into scores: Sofia Rabinovitz and Mia Nelson each had their shots blocked, while no Troubie got a piece of a similar pass in the 55th.

The second goal against the Lions came from sophomore Lily Hall, who connected from well outside the penalty box with less than a minute left in the first half.

JV Gold's win over McClatchy featured an identical final score of 2-0, although that margin betrays the Troubie's domination: a 20-0 shooting margin, with the Lions even blocking a penalty shot along the way. With the stronger morning wind playing a larger factor than in later games, St. Francis failed on six shots until Brynn Baker broke open the scoring. Tallas Schaedler's corner kick set up Emma Kryski's feed to Baker in the 14th for the initial go-ahead. Then it was not until the 51st that the Troubies added another: Mariko Palmieri sent in a cross from the left corner of the field, finding Sophia Kennedy-Contreras and two Lion defenders charging toward the right post. The ball glanced off this trio and into the corner of the net to double the lead to 2-0.

The win over CKM clinched a spot in the JV championship against CB, creating a preview of the January 25 Holy Cup in the process. St. Francis scored all four of its goals before the halftime break. In the 12th minute, Monet Zauner knocked in the second chance after Kryski's original shot was saved. Zauner completed a brace with a transition goal on Charlotte Lippi's pass assist in the 21st. Trinity Ito drove in from the left corner of the box for the third goal in the 23rd. Then Zauner struck again, this time finding Kennedy-Contreras in front of the goal in the 28th.

The Falcons spoiled the Troubies' shutout bid just minutes into the second half when St. Francis opted to play a goal kick short. Freshman Emmerie Dugan stole the serve and finished the fast break herself, bringing the score to 4-1. However, CB failed to cut the margin any further. Payton Garcia's free kick sailed high of its target in the 38th, and Xitlali Rosales – on loan from the idle JV Red squad – came up with a save against Ella Fong in the 47th. St. Francis also managed seven shots in the second half, but none on goal.

The high-scoring JV finale stood in contrast to JV Gold's 1-0 win over Vacaville in the 2023 edition of the Raider Cup Classic.

The three St. Francis soccer squads enter a busy stretch of action during their final exams week on campus. JV Red hosts Inderkum on the school's grass field on Monday (3 p.m.), then Folsom and Granite Bay come to town for Sierra Foothill League tripleheaders on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.