PIAA Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: Radnor’s multi-layer defense bogs down La Salle

CONCORD TWP. — Michael Savadove likes to call it the “three layers of defense,” which is a very Radnor kind of concept from a very Radnor kind of player.

When the opponent has the ball in their defensive half, three echelons of players stand between them and the Radnor goal. When Radnor tries to smother its opponent out of a game, the front-to-back defensive mentality means that actual defenders are not always required.

A pair of momentum-turning goals on the ride, with attackmen creating turnovers, made up a big part of Radnor’s 7-4 win over La Salle Tuesday in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals.

The win at Garnet Valley’s Moe DeFrank Field moved the Raptors (22-3) into their third straight state final. They will meet up with Central League foe Springfield for a third time this season, pitting the respective Central League and District 1 champs against each other.

On a day where Radnor limited La Salle to four goals, defense was an important part of the offense. The only goal of the second quarter came when a Radnor attack appeared to break down, but Owen Knight dispossessed goalie Matt Nelson out of his crease and fed Mason Montrella to bury one on the crease.

Colin French was more direct in an even more vital sequence in the fourth quarter. Radnor was up a man and up a goal at 4-3 when a La Salle groundball seemed to end the threat. But French picked off the clear attempt, bombed into the crease and beat a retreating Nelson to make it 5-3.

“Coach (offensive coordinator Mark) Petrone always says, there’s no defense for a failed clear,” Knight said. “Our goal was to come in, ride it back, we did just that. We were getting after them on the right. The defense hates getting ridden-back.”

“That’s a really hard one to bounce back from,” La Salle faceoff man Stevie Davis said. “I think it happened twice. That’s hard to bounce back, but I think we played really hard after that.”

French and Knight scored twice each to go with an assist. Mason Montrella added a goal. Knight’s second goal, at 7:29 of the fourth, came while getting crushed by a slide in front of the net.

That’s part of the new identity to this year’s state championship aspirants. Last year’s attack was based around the passing acumen of Ryan Goldstein, the Daily Times co-Player of the Year. It was, quite often, a beautiful brand of lacrosse. This year’s attack has shuttled in Knight and Jackson Gaffney as third attackmen, next to Montrella and French, a converted middie, while each has dealt with injuries.

Knight helps set the tone for the toughness aspect of this year’s unit.

“It took us a little bit to get in the groove and figure it out,” Knight said. “I was hurt a little at the start of the year. We’ve figured it out through the year. They were used to playing with Ryan last year. You can’t expect someone to come in and do what he did. We had to create a new identity.”

There’s no novelty to Radnor’s defensive toughness. The Raptors beat La Salle, 8-1, in the regular season. This one was much closer, though the defense never looked out of control. With Michael Savadove in his second game back, after missing districts and the states opener with a leg injury, the defense was at full-strength. The unit of Savadove, Luciano Chadha, Drew Knight and Pablo Strid wreaked havoc on La Salle’s offensive unit.

“They’re so talented, they’re so well-coached,” Savadove said of La Salle. “We have a lot of respect for their program. It’s just about playing as a seven-man unit, three-man unit in the circle and six-man unit on offense. That’s what we’ve done all years.”

La Salle (17-6) had a marked edge on faceoffs, Davis going 13-for-15. One of those turned into a goal in the first quarter, seven seconds after Owen Knight opened the scoring. But otherwise, the Raptors ceded possession but stopped dangerous attacks.

“The other guy was countering a lot,” Davis said. “He wasn’t really clamping that much, but they were trying to not let me fast-break, and their wings are really good at crashing fast. My wings did a good job of bodying them out, letting me get a ground ball and get in the offensive half.”

La Salle got within 4-3 when Paul van Bastelaar scored with 1:15 left in the third. Radnor fended off Davis faceoff wins at the end of the third and start of the fourth before French scored 1:40 into the fourth. Dylan Malone scored his second at 5:18 of the fourth to get it back to within 6-4, but Radnor controlled conditions the rest of the way to keep the repeat dreams alive.

“It means a lot,” Owen Knight said. “We’ve been practicing since November. We’ve been playing for these moments. We’ve been ready to go. We’re looking forward to the next couple of days.”