Spring-Ford survives Radnor, secures program’s first trip to states
ROYERSFORD >> It put its own spin on the United States Postal Service’s motto Saturday afternoon.
Neither rain, nor chilling wind, nor a physical opponent was going to keep Spring-Ford from an appointed date with program history. The Rams overcame all that on the way to a 2-1 victory over Radnor in District 1-4A quarterfinal-round play at Coach McNelly Stadium.
Goals by Brett Gulati and Brandon Duke, coming in a 12-minute span of the second half, ended up being sufficient for the Rams outlasting the Red Raiders’ late surge. The win secured for Spring-Ford a berth in the PIAA playoffs — something it never accomplished previously — and kept it in the running for a district title.
“The quarterfinals are the farthest we’ve ever gone,” SF head coach Brent Kissel said.
To keep the roll going, the second-seeded Rams will have to dispatch Central Bucks West — the sixth seed topped third-seeded North Penn in shootouts, 3-2, after they played to a 1-1 draw in regulation — on Tuesday.
The game with Radnor featured considerable banging of bodies on the field, with three yellow cards assessed and two Spring-Ford players (Gabe Locke, Ethan Mossip) requiring medical attention as a result of the hard-hitting play.
“District soccer is physical,” Kissel noted. “It’s part of the game of high-school soccer. We just try to be a possession team.”
“We knew coming in they (Radnor) were big and they like to run set pieces,” Duke added.
The Rams (15-1-3) offered a fitting answer, breaking up the 0-0 duel near the midway point of the second half.
Gulati got the surge going when he connected on a shot from the right side of the Radnor goal at 22:44, Aiden Hudon getting credit for the assist. And with 4:14 left, Gulati and Duke turned a 2-on-1 situation into the ultimate game-winner.
“Brett is very unselfish,” Duke said. “He could have put the ball away, but instead he passed it off.”
“They (Radnor) tried a counter, which gave us the scoring chance,” Kissel added. “In a case like that, we’re guaranteed to finish.”
The seventh-seeded Raiders (14-3-2) made the comfortable lead less so when Evan Majercak, part of a scramble in front of the Ram cage, scored with 3:33 remaining. But their comeback bid was halted by Spring-Ford controlling the play around midfield while the clock ran down to zero.
“We kept our composure and moved the ball around,” Duke said. “We played over the top. I love that.”
NOTES >> The Rams got four-save goaltending from Ray Fortebuono while Radnor’s keeper, Nathan Congleton, had seven. … The Raiders had a slight (4-3) edge over Spring-Ford in corners. … One of Radnor’s best potential scoring opportunities came around the 18-minute mark of the second half, when it got an indirect kick from around the 25-yard mark. The try didn’t pan out, though.
