ROSEVILLE, Calif. – The St. Francis water polo team put in a valiant effort but fell in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoff finals to Davis 7-4 at Roseville Aquatic Complex Saturday.

“We were the underdogs coming in,” said Head Coach Heather Moody. “I thought we performed really well. I am really stoked because as a group, we stepped up and really took on the game.”

St. Francis finished second in the section overall and recorded a 17-11 overall record.

The Troubadours scored first on a goal by junior Jennalyn Barthels to take the early advantage.

“We came in being aggressive and getting Jenna the ball that quickly and her stepping away and firing was a huge uplift for the team,” said Moody “It really got us into the next two quarters. We were really there with the full team attack. It was great.”

Davis responded with two goals but junior Maggie Oys tied the game at 2 with 14 seconds left in the opening quarter.

“We were playing the way we needed to play together,” said senior Lauren Charter. “We had a good solid defense and a team attack on offense to get the transition. It was a really good start to the game.”

Davis scored the only goal in the second period to take a 3-2 lead at the half. The Blue Devils extended the lead to 5-2 with two goals a minute apart four minutes into the third quarter.

“They converted a few of their perimeter shots and we struggled with that,” said Moody. “I thought our 5 on 6 we did a good job covering our responsibilities there and had huge shot blocks on a couple of key points. But a couple of their outside shots fell. We needed them to hit the bar.”

Sophomore Sally Ferguson cut the lead to 5-3 with 2:14 left in the period but Davis got a goal with 15 seconds left to extend the advantage back to three heading into the final period.

Barthels scored again with 5:46 left to get St. Francis back within two goals at 6-4 but Davis’ Scout Brown scored with 3:26 left to provide the final margin.

“We did not get as many of the calls as we wanted and we let it slip away from us,” said Charter. “We still played a great half and I am really proud of that.”

St. Francis will graduate four players from their current roster including Annie Rafeld, Bella Smith, Hannah Milanowski and Lauren Charter.

“We finished on a really good high and we got progressively better,” said Charter. “We played really well tonight so I am happy to finish my St. Francis career on this game.”

Charter will continue her career Cal next season. She finished the season with a team-best 55 goals and 77 points.

 “I am very happy with the team,” said Moody. “We did a great job overcoming a little adversity in the middle of the season and they really rebounded and came into the playoffs strong. I feel like we got better each game so I was really excited to see that.”

SF – Barthels 2, Ferguson, Oys.