Conestoga tops Radnor to clinch third straight Central League crown

BERWYN >> Conestoga field hockey’s death grip on the Central League title continued on Tuesday
Addie DelOrifice and Shae Wozniak scored a pair of goals each as the Pioneers (15-1) topped Radnor, 4-2, at Teamer Field to complete the three-peat.
“We still have Harriton for senior night Wednesday, so we have to keep focused on that first,” said Conestoga coach Regan Marscher. “But obviously, this was a big one, and it feels really good to win the league for the third year in a row.”

Radnor (13-4) entered Tuesday’s contest ranked number two in District 1 Class 2A, while the Pioneers held the number one spot in Class 3A. A scoreless first period showed why these two teams are among the best in Southeastern PA.
“We made some adjustments after the first period,” said Marscher. “We knew Radnor was going to be tough, so we wanted to come out like the Eagles did Sunday, and just come out strong. We didn’t get much of a practice in yesterday (Monday), but we made the adjustments, including moving Shae (Wozniak) up to forward, and I think we got the job done offensively.”

The move of Wozniak paid nearly immediate dividends, as the sophomore sensation scored unassisted barely two minutes into the second period.
“Our offensive movement, coming in and out of the pocket, was fantastic,” said Wozniak. “We did a really good job working the sidelines. We have such great skill at our left and right mids. They do a great job attacking from the outside to move it up inside the circle.”
The Pioneers struck again midway through the second. Awarded a penalty corner, Kate Galica put the ball in play on the insert, sending it up to Addie DelOrifice at the top of the circle. DelOrifice navigated around a defender, then let loose with a shot that found the back of the cage.

“It feels great to beat a team like Radnor to win the league championship,” said DelOrifice. “Radnor is such great competition in our league, and it’s great to get a win over a team like that as we get ready to move into districts.”
The Pioneers finished the afternoon with an 11-3 advantage in penalty corners, along with a 19-7 edge in shots on goal.
“There were times in the past where we struggled to convert on corners,” said Marscher. “So we’ve tried to really keep our focus when we practice them. We like to try different ones, too, to keep the defense off balance. It’s great to see us converting.”

Wozniak came up with a beautiful goal early in the third to put the Pioneers up 3-0. After ‘Stoga brought the ball up inside the circle, Wozniak moved to her left, just ahead of the end line, and unleashed a bullet on a reverse chip into the board on the far side of the cage.
Radnor finally got on the board midway through the third on an unassisted goal from Gracie Bookbinder at the 5:55 mark.
“We needed to play a game like this,” said Radnor coach Katie Maguire. “I think it was an eye opener and lets us know the kind of things we need to work on headed into districts. I think we were caught off guard by their quickness a little bit. But, I think our fast breaks were strong, and we came up big on defense a few times, making some great block tackles.”

Conestoga wasted no time in answering back, with DelOrifice putting the lead back at three when she scored on a near carbon copy of Wozniak’s backhander.
“Their defenders just swarmed Kate (Galica) all day,” said Marscher. “It’s amazing to know that we’ll still have the prowess of players like Shae and Addie to come up with clutch goals.”
Bookbinder scored her second goal of the game, assisted by Sophie Green, with 5:53 to play, for the final margin.

Conestoga 4, Radnor 2
Radnor 0 0 1 1 – 2
Conestoga 0 2 2 0 – 4
Radnor goals: Bookbinder 2.
Conestoga goals: Wozniak 2, DelOrifice 2.
Goalie saves: Dole (R) 9; Lepore (C) 14.