The Palo Alto Vikings fell to the St. Francis Lancers 11-7 to open the girls water polo season Friday in the 7th annual Fall Kickoff Classic at Avery Aquatic Complex in Stanford University. The Vikings’ offense kept pace with St. Francis in the beginning of the game, but a shaky second-half defense allowed St. Francis control of the game after it scored three consecutive goals.

Senior Palo Alto fielder Amanda Wong’s shot block with 3:54 remaining in the 1st period helped senior goalie Talia Kori on defense. Kori made quick saves on two straight Lancer drives to open the game, but St. Francis drove the ball a third time and scored with 3:27 left to put the Lancers up, 1-0.

The Vikings responded quickly with Wong’s pass to senior fielder Christy Campbell, whose goal with 3:13 remaining in the first period tied the game.

St. Francis started attacking quickly in the beginning of the second period, winning the tip-off and stealing the ball from the Vikings to set up a score from the right side. The Vikings started to drive the ball the other way, but for the second time turned it over and allowed another goal, putting St. Francis up, 3-1.

After taking a timeout, the Vikings pounded into St. Francis territory, forcing two St. Francis exclusions, where Lancer players had to briefly leave the water, before Paly junior fielder Tara Murao scored on a straight shot in 4-on-6 play.

The teams traded goals to end the half with St. Francis taking advantage of an empty Viking net and Wong responding with a long shot to bring the Vikings within one.

The Viking defense faltered in the second half, allowing three straight St. Francis goals: one just 24 seconds into the third period and the other two on turnovers after missed shots on the St. Francis cage. Paly senior winger Hallie Kennan finally stopped the streak with a goal that cut the lead to three, but St. Francis finished the period with another goal to make it 8-4.

“It was then that we really just needed to get up on our legs and make some good shots,” Wong said.

Kennan started a high-scoring fourth period with a steal and then scored with 5:44 left in the game, but the Vikings were still down by three after they traded scores again with St. Francis. Kennan pulled the Vikings within two less than a minute later, scoring the Vikings’ final goal with 4:51 remaining in the game.

The Viking defense again struggled in the final five minutes, allowing two St. Francis goals, including one on a free shot after senior fielder Lizzie Abbott was called for a hard foul after she hit her opponent while blocking a pass.

Down 11-7 with 2:36 remaining, the Vikings called a timeout, during which head coach Cory Olcott had a simple message for the team.

“I told them to just start shooting,” Olcott said, “to not even think about it, but just to score some goals,”

But the Vikings could not put any more points on the board, despite multiple St. Francis fouls and Wong’s third steal of the day.

The Vikings will now prepare to face the Lancers in a rematch Sept. 14 at the St. Francis Autumn Invitational in Mountain View.