SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Janae DeFazio scored twice and added an assist as the St. Francis varsity soccer team opened the 2017 season with a 5-1 win over Rio Americano.

“It is exciting,” said DeFazio. “There are a lot of new players. We were all a little nervous but once we got on the field we were connecting good.”

Freshman Marli Berry scored the first goal of the season off an assist from Alyssa Shebert at the nine-minute mark. Rio tied the score five minutes later. The Troubadours then added two goals before the half and never trailed again. DeFazio scored the first of her two goals in the 28th minute and then aided on the assist with Abby Padilla on Ava Nkadi’s first varsity goal for the 3-1 lead.

“I am excited,” said Head Coach Maryclaire Robinson. “We had good energy. I feel it was the tale of two halves. We did very well the first half. The momentum changed in the second half and I am grateful. It was a great win and a team effort getting goals for a variety of people in a variety of situations. It helps us understand we need to do some fine tuning before CB.”

Defazio scored her second goal in the second half and Savannah Tijerino- Santos completed the scoring with the fifth goal.

St. Francis (1-0) takes on Christian Brothers in Holy Cup. The St. Francis athletics department will provide hot chocolate and cookies to all Troubadour fans before the game.

SF – DeFazio 2, Berry 1, Nkadi 1.