Radnor holds off Upper Dublin to make All-Central Final Four

RADNOR — Stashed between where it was headed and where it had been Saturday was a small but serious challenge to the Radnor boys lacrosse team.

Withstanding an energetic effort from 14th-seeded Upper Dublin, the sixth-seeded Raiders prevailed, 7-4, in the District 1 Class 3A tournament, advancing to the semifinal round, where there will be Central League teams and only Central League teams.

The Raiders (16-4) will visit No. 2-seed Conestoga Tuesday afternoon at 4. At 5:15, top-seeded Springfield will host Garnet Valley. Radnor fell, 11-7, to the visiting Pioneers in March.

The way the sixth-seeded Raiders repelled an Upper Dublin rally Saturday was evidence that the dominance of one league is still anything but random.

“There’s a lot of good teams out there and a lot of good conferences, and the Central League is one of them,” Radnor coach John Begier said. “There’s been a lot of battles all year. And we all make each other better. But I have to say Upper Dublin brought everything today. They are a very well-coached team, really fundamental. They put us on ropes. … We had our hands full.”

The Raiders trailed only after an early Lucas Roselli goal, his first of two. But after falling behind, 6-2, the Cardinals created tension with a man-advantage goal from Brian McCarry late in the third quarter, then a Jayden Santangelo score with 5:40 left.

A steal at midfield by Grant Pierce helped blunt a late Upper Dublin charge and led to Jackson Birtwistle’s third goal of the game with 0:31 showing, creating the All-Central Final Four.

“I think it’s awesome,” the Marquette-bound Birtwistle said. “We have really good games during the season. They really hype us up for night games and games like that, but it goes to show how hard all of our teams work. We really practice a lot, day in and day out, to get to games like this and to the district semifinals. So I think it says a lot for the league and definitely for us. Because we know we can maybe get it this year.”

Upper Dublin (12-8) will shuffle into the playback field and visit Avon Grove Tuesday, hardened, perhaps, from a competitive showing against Radnor.

“They are a very good team,” Cards coach Pat Lacon said. “They are very well coached. They kind of knew what we were doing from the beginning. And every time we made an adjustment, they made an adjustment. And so it was a nice, fun, chess match of a game.

“When they compete for a Central League championship, they have to bring it every day. And we are trying to instill that here, that you have to bring it in practice every day.”

Upper Dublin caught Radnor’s attention early when Roselli scored with 5:46 left in the first. Birtwistle scored on a nice feed from behind the net by Drew Brown late in the quarter, and Brown scored on a rebound early in the second. But Roselli countered to make it 2-2, awakening the tough Radnor defense.

“The defense, we have all been working hard after practice, getting extra work in,” said Raiders goalie Archer Darrach, who made a dozen saves, plenty of the critical variety. “And it paid off big today. They came off a big win against West Chester East. We were ready for them. We didn’t want to underestimate them.”

Sufficiently alert, Radnor made a late-first-half statement, with Teddy Girton scoring with 1:06 showing and, after a timeout, Birtwistle storming from behind the net to deposit his second goal one second before the horn.

“I think it was definitely a big goal for us,” Birtwistle said. “It was a close game. And we wanted to finish the first half off on a positive note.”

Jaden Goldstein scored on a pass from John Austen early in the third, before Austen’s goal gave Radnor the 6-2 lead. Goaltender Sam Hoffmann, who made 14 saves, enough to keep Upper Dublin close enough to rally.

“Upper Dublin came fighting back,” Begier said. “Then it’s, ‘game on.’ We talk about finishing every play and finishing every quarter, and that hopefully allows you to finish every game.”

Next: Finishing tournament.

“I think, Birtwistle said, “we are on a hot roll right now.”