Haven goals ignite Radnor’s second-half thunder

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NETHER PROVIDENCE — The first harmonica chords of “Thunder Road” over the loudspeaker made it harder to hear John Begier’s halftime address Thursday night. But it would’ve taken a lot more volume to drown out the Radnor coach, after his team surrendered two goals in the final 6.5 seconds of the first half to Strath Haven.

“It wasn’t very happy,” senior attackman John Austen said of intermission. “We felt like we were playing a little sloppy.”

The halftime convo lit a fire under the Raiders, holding Strath Haven to just two second-half goals in a 14-11 Central League victory.

Strath Haven entered half with a 9-8 lead thanks to two Nicky Palermo goals in the last seven seconds, part of his five first-half markers. Neither team excelled on defense, but Radnor’s team talk was especially animated. The adjustments were just as quick.

Within 1:41, Radnor was even, Jackson Birtwistle capping a long possession by sneaking from behind the cage to rip one top corner.

“I think as a team, we really brought it together there,” the junior said. “It wasn’t just me. We moved it around, we got a long possession and one of us was able to put it in the back of the net.”

Radnor made its adjustments defensively. The Raiders were eaten alive in the first half by Ibo Pio dodging from the top of the box, so they moved to lock off Pio, denying him possession and the ability to draw defenders and dump passes to open attackers.

Pio provided three goals and three assists in the first half; in the second, both he and Palermo were shut out.

“It definitely threw things off because they were our main dodgers, which led to our goals, drawing a defender and dishing it,” Palermo said. “It definitely threw us off.”

The Raiders (6-1, 4-1) adapted on the offensive end, too. The first half was dictated by solo moves to goal, particularly by Austen and Birtwistle. But more of the Raiders’ array of options got involved later. Charlie Bernicker potted his second goal to nudge Radnor ahead, 11-10. David Azzarano deposited the game-winner with 3:19 left in the third quarter after a stellar cross-field look from Birtwistle. And Jaden Goldstein, who had been bottled up for three quarters, scored the only two goals of the fourth.

“This year, we’ve really spread out the scoring,” Austen said. “Azzie has done a good job when he’s come in for us, and Jaden’s done awesome. He’s really picked it up when he’s come in with me and Birt.”

It helped that the Raiders owned possession, with Patrick Cullen outdueling Christian Mazur on 17 of 28 draws.

“It’s massive for us,” Austen said. “Mazur is really good, really athletic, and I think Cullen went out there and willed his way in. Our wings are doing a good job. Cole Schwartz was going for every ground ball. It’s really a team effort on the faceoffs.”

Strath Haven (4-3, 3-2) led by three goals in the first half, thanks to a run of four straight tallies kicked off by a Liam Carney bullet from distance on a man-up. Radnor answered with four straight, Austen capping the run off a Birtwistle feed with 45 seconds left in the half, to take an 8-7 edge. That’s before Palermo scored courtesy of Pio with 6.5 seconds left, then off an astute Dylan Fitzgerald restart with one-tenth of a second showing on the clock.

This game joins last Thursday’s 14-13 overtime setback to Conestoga as painful early-season lessons for a Panthers side restocking from last year’s run to the PIAA Class 2A final.

“Both of these teams are great Central League teams,” Palermo said. “We’re going to watch the film and get better on both sides of the ball and hopefully learn from that and win down the road.”

Radnor’s lessons, so emphatically shared at halftime, were instilled more quickly. That’s what made the difference.

“It’s really about every man from bottom to top, from the bench staying into it, the whole team staying into it,” Austen said. “Just never losing hope, keeping full speed the entire time and just getting after it.”’

Also in the Central League:

Springfield 12, Ridley 2 >> Jack Clark scored four goals to go with three assists as nine Cougars found the score sheet.

Liam DiFonzo, Aidan Shandley, Jack Spence and Robbie O’Brien had a goal and an assist each. Zach Broomall was 10-for-14 on draws, and Jimmy Donegan and Joe Lofland combined for eight saves.

Jack Bakey and Sean Hinchey scored for Ridley, which got 12 saves from Brendan King.

Garnet Valley 22, Marple Newtown 7 >> Mitch Lachman led the Jaguars’ offensive parade with five goals. Ryan Nealon added a hat trick, and Danny Bradley matched two goals with two assists for Garnet Valley, which was powered by Adam Oldrati’s 27-for-28 day at the X.

Marlon Weathers led the way for Marple Newtown with two goals and two assists.

Penncrest 15, Upper Darby 1 >> TJ Sims tallied a hat trick, and Robbie McDonnell and Asa Tyson each paired two goals with two assists for the Lions. Ryan Matsinger was 13-for-18 from the X.

Christian Cucinotti scored the Royal’s goal.

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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