FOLSOM, Calif. – Sophomore Azaria Agbodike assisted senior Holland Sperber in the 32nd minute for the lone goal in St. Francis' 1-0 shutout of Folsom in the varsity main event of Tuesday's Sierra Foothill League girls' soccer opener at Prairie City Stadium.
The Troubadours capture their six straight win to improve to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in league play. All seven wins have also come by way of shutout. The Bulldogs dip to 1-2 for the season with a 1-1 mark in SFL games.
The goal represents the fourth on the season for Sperber, a Houston Christian commit, with the assist also being the fourth for Agbodike. The possession began with Madeline Squaglia intercepting a pass along her right sideline. The ball worked its way through Mia Nelson and Lily Hall before reaching Agbodike, who took a step inside the right channel of penalty box before delivering a cross to Sperber. Sperber then sent a shot into the upper corner for the score.
Agbodike nearly netted a goal of her own in the 37th when Miley Blough sent a long ball her way high in the box, over the top of a Folsom defender to Agbodike's feet. Unfortunately, another Bulldog backliner got just enough of a piece to clear it out of the Troubie attacker's reach.
Sperber also had an opportunity in the final seconds before halftime when she converged on an saved shot. Only a near collision with the Folsom keeper kept the ball out of the net, and Agbodike pulled the third-chance shot wide left before the whistle ended the half.
Goalkeeper Mia Rabinovitz did her part to maintain the shutout, coming up with a leaping grab on a Folsom set piece in the 43rd minute, then tallying another glove save over the crossbar on a hard blast in the 46th. She previously received early help from Squaglia on a blocked shot in just the fourth overall minute of the contest. Other than that, St. Francis managed to control possession for the vast majority of the game.
Preceding the varsity game, JV Red played the Folsom frosh-soph to a 1-1 draw. Anna Votaw converted an Ava Arnold assist in the 35th minute, but the Bulldogs went on to equalize in the 49th. The Troubies' JV Gold followed with a 2-1 comeback win. Despite a 29-6 shooting margin, the Troubies surrendered a penalty kick with about 25 minutes remaining to fall into a 1-0 hole.
However, Anna George drew a penalty in the 66th when she was tripped up after beating the Folsom goalkeeper. George converted her own kick to equalize at 1-1. Then with 7:04 left, or the 73rd minute, George completed her brace by following up a Hazel Pryor shot off the crossbar for the go-ahead.
All three SF teams return to action on Thursday for an SFL tripleheader at Granite Bay. As is the league format, JV Gold opens the series with a 3:30 p.m. game, varsity follows at 5:30, then JV Red completes the night with a 7:15 p.m. finale against the Grizzlies. Tickets are available solely through GoFan, with a direct link expected to appear on the St. Francis channel (https://gofan.co/app/school/CA8032) on Wednesday.
