Radnor’s Proctor shakes off pain, stymies Penncrest

RADNOR >> Phoebe Proctor was the one whose head hurt Monday.

“She left school after first period with a migraine,” Radnor head coach Brooke Fritz said of her sophomore goalie. “She came back for last period, and then she had about half a practice.”

Proctor turned out to be the one causing headaches Tuesday afternoon. She turned away 19 Penncrest shots, helping second-seeded Radnor to a 14-5 victory over the Lions in a District 1 Class 2A lacrosse semifinal game at Encke Field.

The defending Class 2A state champion Raiders (17-4) will go after the district title against top-seeded Villa Maria Thursday while the Lions (16-4) will meet Gwynedd Mercy in the district’s third-place match. Villa beat Gwynedd, 21-9, Tuesday.

All four teams will take part in the PIAA Class 2A state tournament, which begins next Tuesday. A year ago, Radnor won the district title then defeated Villa Maria, 20-8, in the second round of the state tourney.

Proctor turned away 14 shots in the second half of Tuesday’s game, which was one of the reasons Radnor was able to outscore Penncrest after halftime, 9-3.

“Some of them were like, ‘boom, boom,’” Fritz said of the pair of Proctor efforts on which she had to recover quickly to make a second save from a rebound. “She also got a lot of help from her defense. She’s been unbelievable for us all season.”

Proctor credited two classmates, Missy Massimino and Julia Rigolizzo, with providing the defensive spark for the Raiders.

“I felt like I got in a groove today,” the young goalie said. “My defense helped me with that. When Missy and

(Rigolizzo) do some of the things they do, that really gets everyone all psyched up.”

Massimino, who contributed a pair of draw controls, including one that set up the goal she scored, admitted that she and Rigolizzo don’t always play conservatively.

“We take risks and try to make big plays,” she said. “We know (Proctor) will be there to help us if we need her to.”

With Radnor ahead 4-1 late in the first half, Massimino, a midfielder, crossed the restraining line to take a pass from Sarah Beth Lanzone and fired home a goal.

“When I heard (the coaches) tell me to go, I knew I should take the ball in,” Massimino said. “They’ve asked me to concentrate on defense this year, but it was good to get the chance to score a goal.”

In addition to her defensive duties, Rigolizzo found time to toss in three goals and add an assist, totals that were matched by junior Cate Cox. Sophomores Molly May and Ellie Mueller each had two goals and one assist, and senior Cat Belveal got a pair of assists.

Logan O’Donnell scored two goals and claimed four draw controls for Penncrest.

“We’ll be back to work (Wednesday) because we have another (playback) game Thursday,” Penncrest coach Caitlin Pettit said. “And we know we’ll have a game next week in states.

“We did some things today that didn’t work out the way we hoped or the way we had practiced. We didn’t do the things we wanted in transition or in taking advantage of the draw controls we had. But we’ll tell them again not to forget that they are good, and they have to get ready for when we play again.”