Improbable comeback lifts Radnor into state final
MIDDLETOWN >> If you took a poll with 10 minutes, 54 seconds to go in the first half of Radnor’s PIAA girls lacrosse semifinal showdown against Garnet Valley Tuesday night, few if anyone in attendance at Penncrest’s Louis Scott Field would have given the Raiders a chance to win.
The situation was that dire.
Radnor trailed by six goals and many felt the game was over at the point.
“Me too,” Radnor coach Brooke Fritz said. “I said, ‘Just make it close.’”
The Raiders more than made it respectable. They staged a comeback for the ages to beat the Jaguars, 10-9, to earn a spot in Saturday’s PIAA championship game against Conestoga at West Chester East High school.
Hope Smith’s free position goal with 3:09 left in the game was the difference, but the rally began when Fritz called a timeout with 10:54 left in the first half and Radnor trailing, 8-2. This was no ordinary foe, but one that had won the last two PIAA championships and four out of the last five state titles.
Yet Fritz’s message to her team was simple, even though she was skeptical about victory.
“I told them to focus on the little stuff and do what we’ve done all year, and just out-grit them,” Fritz said. “We wanted it so badly. This group isn’t the most skilled group, but they’re such fighters.”
The Raiders showed their mettle by winning the District One crown despite being the ninth seed in the tournament. Radnor (20-6) knocked off top-seeded Conestoga (13-8), fourth-seeded Garnet Valley (7-6) and sixth-seeded Owen J. Roberts (12-8) to claim the district crown.
Hope Smith the sneak!! It’s 10-9 Radnor, 3:09 Left. They’ve scored 8 of the last 9 goals. pic.twitter.com/9JxV7XjUqZ
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 7, 2016
Radnor’s resolve would face the ultimate test when the Jaguars (19-6-1) scored seven straight goals to turn a 2-1 deficit into what most thought was a game-deciding 8-2 lead. Sophomore Kamryn McNeal had two of her three goals in that outburst. Madi O’Brien and Emily Mathewson also scored twice in that stretch.
Yet there was no sense of panic as the Raiders gathered around Fritz during the timeout.
“We knew if we could stop their momentum, we would come back,” senior midfielder Abby Lord said.
Senior Emily Games gave Radnor the lift it needed. She scored two of her three goals in the final five minutes to cut the deficit in half, 8-4.
Emily Games gets her second with 13 left to half. 8-4 GV pic.twitter.com/mefTuKyzaD
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 7, 2016
“Those two goals were huge,” goalie Alexa Solomon said. “That showed us we could do it.”
While scoring was critical, ball control was the key, and that’s where Lord came in. She helped the Raiders control five of the eight draws in the second half, which kept the ball away from Garnet Valley’s high-powered offense.
“It seemed like a lot more than that,” Garnet Valley coach Jenny Purvis said. “They did a great job. They were able to control the draw and control the pace of the game.”
.@Radnor_Lax runs it out. There will be a new state champ! Final Radnor 10, Garnet Valley 9 pic.twitter.com/Yp4nYGVTIA
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 7, 2016
And that allowed the Raiders to slowly chip away at the lead. Katie Quinn sandwiched a pair of goals around Garnet Valley’s only score of the second half to trim the deficit to 9-6. Games, who led the Raiders with four goals, scored twice including the equalizer with 6:41 to play in the game.
While draw control was key, so was the play of Solomon in goal. She made five of her six saves in the second half to help fuel the comeback.
“It’s always been that I have to make that first save in order to do other things and I was really struggling in the first half to get that first save,” Solomon said. “It was frustrating, but my teammates helped me through it. Once I got that first save I was fine.”
And so were the Raiders. The Radnor bench erupted when Games tied the game while the Raiders were in a man-up situation. It would leap for joy again a little more than two minutes later.
Smith scored her third goal of the game off a free position with 3:09 remaining to give Radnor its second lead of the game and first since it held a 2-1 advantage less than five minutes into the contest.
“That was the most stressful thing ever,” Smith said. “I don’t think I’ve been that strong on free positions this year, but I think just taking it one step at a time and boxing out the girl on the right of me and get the shot in was important.”
And a comeback most believed impossible was complete.
“We were just determined to win,” Lord said.
