NORRISTOWN — It has been more than a month since Radnor’s boys soccer team allowed a goal. Not since balmy late August and a rough outing against Downingtown East have the Raptors surrendered multiple goals.
So the shock in the 23rd minute Wednesday when Riley Martin’s flick off a free kick bounded off Radnor goalie Jake Barber and in for a Springfield-Montco goal in the District 1 Class 3A championship game was palpable.
It also was short lived, thanks to the referee waving off the goal as Martin was in mid-celebration.
That coin-flip call gave way to Radnor’s usual defensive dominance, plus two moments of on-ball brilliance from Andrew Marino that fired Radnor to a 2-0 win at Norristown High School.
On this night, maybe the luck of the bounce favored a defense that has earned a break or two.
Since that Downingtown downer, Radnor (15-2-2) has kept 15 clean sheets in 17 outings. Only Harriton and Lower Merion have scored against the Raptors, and they outscored three district opponents, 11-0. Radnor now plays
That didn’t much matter when Henry Drapkin took a free kick from 35 yards out in the first half, Springfield trailing 1-0. Martin, the Spartans’ dynamic forward, poked his toe into the ball, popping it from the turf toward the hands of Barber.
What happened next is a matter of opinion, with two referees’ differing. Either Barber only got enough of a hand on it to bobble it over the line, or Martin used his shoulder to help Barber nudge the ball over.
Martin came away from the goal-mouth confrontation thinking it was the former. The center referee, after a beat, ruled it was the latter, calling the foul and nullifying the goal.
“In my opinion, the goalie was about to get it,” Martin said. “I got there, I ended up hitting it off of him, it bounced up in the air and it just went in the net. At first, it was a goal, and I thought, OK we’re back in it. Next thing you know, disallowed. And I thought to myself, did we get robbed or was it right? And I’m not one to judge. … Refs make the call, that’s what happens and we have to live with it.”
“I think it’s just staying together,” Radnor center back Michael Savadove said. “We talk about being like a fist and staying together through adversity. Even if it was 1-1, we would’ve bounced back. I know we would’ve. We got lucky there. It’s the sport’s luck, sometimes.”
Lucky or not, Radnor showed it’s also very good defensively. That save was one of only two for Barber on the night. The Raptors don’t necessarily dominate possession but they are adept at controlling field position, making their most contentious defensive interventions far from trouble and making the opponent work to get into dangerous areas.
Only twice was the three-man backline of Savadove, Commerce Fisk and Aidan Damiani really forced into a do-or-die play. Both times, it was Damiani, 30 or more yards from goal, having to make an inch-perfect tackle on Martin after Harry Bates threatened to send him in all alone.
Both times, Damiani got it perfect.
“That’s a typical play for Aidan,” Savadove said. “He’s the most mentally tough, strong kid I know. He’s just awesome. That’s the type of play I expect him to make every single time, and he does it, every single time.”
Marino calibrated both of his crucial moments perfectly, too. In the seventh minute, he created space down the left wing. He spotted Nate Lucchesi, who peeled off the back shoulder of his marker and planted a header into the corner of the net.
“Towards the end of the season, coach put me and him up top and we kind of developed a chemistry,” Marino said. “I kind of knew where he was, to kind of just put it into the middle of the box and for him to be there.”
Marino did the finishing in the second half. He latched onto a ball again down the left. He took his defender toward the byline, then cut back in on his right foot and shaped a picturesque curler toward the top corner far side. Goalie Owen Hastings, who made seven saves, including an excellent denial of a Brayan Chavez free kick early in the second half, stood no chance.
It was the kind of goal that fit the championship moment that the Raptors had built to.
“We work so hard for this moment,” Marino said. “A couple of years ago, we lost in this same situation so it was great to actually be playing in it and make an impact like I did.”
