By Pete Borello

St. Francis High coach Kathy Lincoln couldn’t settle on just one play that separated her team from host Los Gatos in last Saturday’s Central Coast Section field hockey championship.

Lincoln said the top-seeded Lancers (13-1-3) made several critical plays that led to the 3-2 victory and the first title in team history.

One of the defining moments came midway through the first half when Gina DeMaestri, on an assist from Megan Ottoboni, scored to tie the game at 1.

“That was a huge thing,” said Lincoln, whose team was eliminated from the playoffs by Los Gatos the prior two years. “After they scored early, like they have in the past, we were able to get a breakaway goal that said, ‘hey, maybe we can do this.’”

Then there was Melissa Martindale’s short-corner goal early in the second half that knotted the game at 2.

And Lincoln won’t soon forget her team’s game-winning goal: Lauren Haugh’s point-blank shot on a scramble in front of the goal with 5:47 left.

“It looks like genius coaching,” Lincoln said with a chuckle. “Actually, we were trying to sub Lauren out for Melissa. But before we could, she got in front of the goal and put a stick on it.”

The Lancers defense took over from there.

“They really stepped it up and did a good job shutting them out,” the coach said.

In the semifinals Nov. 14, St. Francis beat Lynbrook in overtime. The Lancers won 1-0 on penalty kicks, getting a goal from Stephanie Grejtak in their final shot of the first round.