On Thursday afternoon, April 7, Menlo School (2-0 WBAL-F, 5-3 Overall) hosted St. Francis, Sacramento (9-3 Overall). Menlo defeated St. Francis-Sac with a final score of 16-5 in regulation.

Game Summary: Menlo scored in the opening 37 seconds of play with a goal from sophomore middie Michaela Michael, right off the opening draw. Menlo scored the next  five goals and led 6-0, when sophomore middie Meagan Bennett put one past Menlo’s keeper Hannah Rubin on a narrow, tough angled approach from the left side. Menlo continued to find success as they moved the ball well and capitalized on many shooting opportunities in the first half. St. Francis would gain another goal from Elise Nyland with just over 9 minutes to play until half. Neither team scored for the final 9:03 of the half, and Menlo led 10-2 heading into the half. 

First half scoring from Menlo included 5 unassisted goals from Michael and one unassisted from Sheeline, two from Adler assisted by Madeira and Kim, McKinnon on the run, and Kim assisted by Michael.  Following the halftime break, Menlo continued to challenge St. Francis on the draw controls, ground balls, and time of possession. Once again, Menlo experienced many turnovers and fouls, but today, they did a much better job on the re-defend and showed true determination to win back the ball, if/when lost.

With St. Francis arriving to play Menlo with a nice 9-2 record, with losses only to Davis and Cal High, the two teams were comparable in various polls/rankings at the start of the game. Menlo established an early lead, controlled the draw and executed successful fast breaks and settled plays; they have hit a nice stride, now 8 games into the season.

By the numbers:

• Draw controls won – Menlo 19, SF 4.
• Groundballs won – Menlo 43, SF 17
• Turnovers – Menlo 26, SF 24
• Caused turnovers – Menlo 7, SF 1
• Shots ON goal: Menlo 21, SF 6
• Assists – Menlo 6, SF 1
• Clears – Menlo 28, SF 14
• Failed Clears – Menlo 4, SF 10 

Box Score

• Menlo School   10 6 = 16
• St. Francis-Sac  2  3 = 5

Goal Scorers for Menlo:  Michael (6), Sheeline (3), Kim (3), Adler (3), McKinnon
Goalie Saves for Menlo: Rubin (2), Dressel (1)
Goal Scorers for St. Francis-Sac: Bennett (3), Burns, Nyland
Goalie Saves for St. Francis-Sac: Dowd (4)

Notable players of the game for Menlo: Michaela Michael – sophomore middie center tied her season, game and team high of 9 total points with 6 goals and 3 assists today. (On Tuesday she had 7g, 2a vs M-A) Michael also took turns as a low defender today. For the two games this week so far, Michael put 13 goals and 5 assists on the board (18TP), and the week is not yet over for Menlo…Michael has so far on the season 39g and 12 assists for 51 T.P. in eight games played. Really nice play throughout the game from middie captain junior Kacie Madeira who had two assists, and also from the trio of two juniors Sophie Sheeline, Elyse Adler plus soph Ali Kim – who all had hat tricks today.

Notable players of the game for St. Francis-Sac: Senior middie Justina Burns and sophomore Meagan Bennett. Bennett contributed a hat trick today for the Troubies, and was a great anchor and driving force for St. Francis.  Although only posting one goal on the day, Burns was everywhere in the midfield, and helped SF-Sac gain every possible advantage by using her speed, athleticism and quickness to try to force turnovers and fight for the ball off the draw. Burns and Bennett are the two leading scorers for St. Francis with 62 goals between them in twelve games played, to date.

St. Francis-Sac and Menlo may meet again as soon as this Saturday, when they both aim to compete for the title of champion at the Western States tournament (hosted by M-A) at Treasure Island on Saturday 4/9. Menlo is the 2010 defending champion.

JV Result: (Non-League)