By Bill Paterson
bpaterson@sacbee.com

It's a promise Erin Rost was pleased she could keep.

The senior St. Francis goalkeeper told a teammate, stricken with a serious illness, before lining up for penalty kicks against rival Davis in tonight's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship that she would make a save for her.

Instead she blocked two in leading the Troubadours to an emotional 4-3 win over the Blue Devils at Folsom High School. The two schools played through a scoreless regulation and two 10-minute overtimes.

"(She) is awesome, she is our strength," Rost said of her teammate. "We wear purple wristbands, even though we're not supposed to. That's why we wear purple headbands. To show our support for her."

St. Francis coach Rick Carrigan said the sudden absence of one of their teammates helped his players come together when it counted most.

"The players grew close," Carrigan said. "They developed some chemistry that wasn't necessarily there at the beginning of the season."

Said Rost: "We're like a family this year, from the freshmen to the seniors."

It also was the rare St. Francis team that was looked upon as the underdog in its last two matches.

On Thursday, the Troubadours beat St. Mary's of Stockton on penalty kicks, the nation's top-ranked team.

Senior-dominated Davis also figured to be a formidable roadblock. For much of the game, the Blue Devils were.

They were the sharper more organized team through much of regulation. St. Francis, which switched from a 4-3-3 to a more conventional 4-2-2 in the second half, perked up late and in the two 10-minute overtimes.

Clearly, though, the top two performers on the field were Rost and Davis senior goalkeeper Megan Foster
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Rost won the critical PK duel.

After Davis' Kelly Riestenberg and Cookie Rocha buried kicks for the Blue Devils, Rost batted Andria Farrens' attempt over the crossbar, then dove to her left to stop the fourth attempt by Antonia Darragh.  "She's got a lot of confidence," Carrigan said. "This is Erin's third section championship."      

   
Rost almost made a third stop when she jumped to her right in front of Katherine Hopper's shot. But the ball eluded her hands and wound up in the corner of the net.

It didn't matter as St. Francis' first kicker Hannah Bonotto connected, followed by No. 3 Kasey Kurtis and No. 4 Gloria Hernandez. Then Lindsay Matlock's blast past Foster won it.

"Lindsay is as cool as the other side of the pillow," Carrigan said.

So is Rost, who will play in the fall at the Air Force Academy. To get motivated, she watched the movie "Miracle" earlier this morning.

"We were the underdogs, so I'm so happy right now," Rost said. "It wasn't just me. Our defense (anchored by Bonotto, Matlock, Jillian Higley and Caitlin Clark) was so great through the game that I only had to make a few saves. I couldn't have won it with a better team. I can't take credit. I just did my job."