RADNOR — Being shut out for the first time in 15 games and only the second time this season did not sit well with Radnor. Getting dumped into the playback portion of the District 1 Class 2A field hockey tournament wasn’t ideal, either.
Yet that was the hand the top-seeded Raiders were dealt and the one thing Radnor coach Katie Maguire wanted to see was how her team would respond.
She didn’t have to wait long for an answer.
Olivia Shea and Brigid Lowry scored in the first 5 minutes, 18 seconds and that fast start powered Radnor to a 7-3 victory over fifth-seeded Phoenixville Tuesday afternoon at Encke Field.
The win earned the Raiders (16-4) another home date, this time on Friday for the fifth and final PIAA berth from District 1 against sixth-seeded Gwynedd Mercy, a 6-2 winner over No. 7 Bishop Shanahan. Starting time has yet to be determined.
“Our team does better when we score first,” Shea said. “In our last game we got beat in the first half and it definitely put us down. Today, we were more together as a team.”
The Raiders went on to score five times in the first half to hold off the feisty Phantoms (15-5-1). Shea had two of her three goals in the opening 30 minutes. Page Lowry also scored twice in the first half and Barb Civitella had four assists. Radnor also had a goal disallowed.
“When we get in the circle in the first two minutes, we want to score,” Lowry said. “And after we score one goal we want to score in the next two minutes.”
Shea scored three minutes into the game and it would be another 2:18 before Brigid Lowry made it 2-zip, but it did set the tone for the rest of the game.
“(Being shut out) in the last game took a toll on a lot of us,” Shea said. “We had been winning a lot of games (15 in a row) and that loss was humbling. I think we’re going to do better from here.”
Phoenixvlle would not go quietly. The Phantoms cut the deficit to 2-1 on a goal by Ameerah Green and 4-2 on the first of two goals from Katherine Baker. However, that was not enough to topple the determined Raiders.
“We wanted to be aggressive and we wanted to be hungry today,” Phoenixville coach Claire Emplit said. “And I saw that hunger from them. We just came up short. We had some opportunities in our circle and when you’re at this level this far into the season, teams will capitalize on your mistakes. If you don’t take advantage of every opportunity you have and the other team does, it’s difficult to win.”
