Andersen saves the day in win for Radnor

RADNOR — For three quarters Tuesday, there was no letdown from Alex Andersen between the posts.

The Radnor goaltender stopped 13 of the first 16 La Salle shots to come his way, backstopping the Raiders to a six-goal lead and a chance at a significant nonleague win. But when a fluky goal with six minutes left opened the floodgates to the kind of run a team with La Salle’s talent was bound to possess, the senior’s resolve was tested.

Andersen passed with flying colors, producing a pair of vital saves late to stop the bleeding of La Salle’s late explosion to seal a 9-7 win in a matchup of PIAA-qualifying teams from last season.

That resilience stemmed the tide of the Explorers’ surge and helped Radnor preserve a lead that had stood at 9-3 after three quarters.

“The whole defense in general, our big thing is if we’re up like that, we can’t let them get momentum going forward,’ Andersen said. “After that happened, we kind of regrouped and said, stuff like that happens. But we just can’t let them get momentum. Make the next step. They got a couple on us at the end, but we still made sure (we played like) it was 0-0 on each play.’

It was easier said than done for Andersen, who appeared to be in the zone as the clock neared the halfway mark of the final quarter. He turned aside four shots in that half a quarter, the last a bull rush to the cage by Kevin Lacon in which Andersen stood tall, hugged the post and took a point-blank shot right between the “42′ on his chest.

That roll, though, was disrupted by a fluky goal, when a deflected Lacon shot caromed to a wide-open Christopher Hladczuk on the doorstep for the Explorers’ long-awaited fourth goal. In the next 1:58, La Salle would proceed to score on four straight shots, a spree perpetuated by Anthony Giuliani’s 13-for-19 day at the X.

“We just had to push the ball, and I just needed to get my job done,’ Giuliani said. “Just get off the field, get it to Zach Drake (goal, two assists) or any of our leaders to give ourselves a chance to win this game.’

Two of the four goals found the five hole of Andersen, the hulking University of Pennsylvania-bound lineman who had consistently taken away the top portion of the net all afternoon. But undaunted as the lead was trimmed by two-thirds, Andersen rallied, producing saves on Aidan Kerrigan and Drake, the latter while La Salle was a man up with for the game’s final 24 seconds, to salt away the win.

“I think as a whole defensive unit, it’s more, just calm down,’ Andersen said. “Go back to the fundamentals because we know, 6-on-6, we’ll be good.’

Part of the reason the Raiders (2-2) clinched the win was that perseverance, which manifested itself from the opening faceoff. Radnor led 4-0 after one quarter, an advantage that would never shrink below two goals and was fostered by the grit of Drew Ryan, who had a hand in all four first-quarter goals.

He was credited with the third goal, an unassisted, top-corner rip, and dished to Westy McLaughlin late in the frame. But beyond the stat sheet, Ryan’s long shot handcuffed La Salle’s Conor Scafidi, leaving a rebound on the doorstep for Clayton Proctor to deposit the first goal. And Ryan provided an authoritative pick to free up Jack Norton, who rifled home the second goal.

“We talked about after we lost to Garnet Valley that we weren’t really all together as a team,’ the senior Ryan said. “We were coming out being passionate about it. That’s what we really tried to do. … That’s what we were really trying to do when we came out, be really aggressive and be going after guys. We want to be the most competitive team in the state.’

La Salle got the deficit to 5-2 at the half, but in the third quarter, it was Radnor’s turn to rattle off goals in short order. The Raiders ended a long drought when Norton set up Ryan for a marker just 47 seconds into the half. Then a pair of goals by Norton, a tally from faceoff man Tom Meyers and another Proctor tally facilitated by Norton in a span of 3:42 turned a 5-3 lead into a 9-3 cushion.

For all the new offensive sets that Norton explained postgame, it was often as simple as the sixth goal, when Norton wriggled around the crease, burrowed through a sliver of space and poked home a goal with a pair of defenders and Scafidi comprehensively beaten.

“I don’t know if I’m the fastest or the strongest guy,’ Norton said, “but it’s always about getting those great looks and being able to finish in the tough spots.’

From there, it was up to Radnor to grind out the final quarter, something they achieved successfully for the first six minutes, at least. But with Giuliani’s dominance at the X, which included winning all five fourth-quarter draws, the Raiders sought something to shift the balance back in their favor.

That’s where the toughness on the ground resurfaced, brought to bear by vital loose-ball pickups from Proctor and Wilson in the final four minutes as Radnor killed off much of the time in their zone and made good on the vociferous promises of toughness in the pre-game huddle.

“The coaches always harp on being the best groundball team in the league,’ Norton said. “And we always work really hard in practice, compete every day. We always talk about being the best groundball team out there, and it really can change the outlook of a game.’