Radnor’s possession advantage pays dividends in win over GV

RADNOR — Ellie Rinehart knew Tuesday’s showdown with Garnet Valley would feature two defenses that could make it a low-scoring affair. Rinehart just hoped she and her fellow Radnor backers would spend a little less time showing off that defensive acumen.

When called upon, Radnor did the job. But the fact that it didn’t have to do it as much as its opponent made the ultimate difference.

Thanks to the lion’s share of possession, Radnor claimed a nip-and-tuck 7-6 victory in a Central League game with big ramifications for a District 1 seeding picture, where eight teams entered Tuesday with one loss or fewer. Garnet Valley (11-2, 7-2 Central) is no longer in that group, while Radnor (11-1, 8-1) seals its hold on second place in the standings.

Another pivotal 11: The 11 draw controls, out of 15 chances, claimed by Radnor. With that domination of the ball and the patience to wait for the right moment to use it against a disciplined and talented Garnet Valley defense, Radnor simply wore the Jags down.

“We’ve been practicing getting the ball, moving it quickly so we get (their) defenders down and tired and we keep our momentum up,” Radnor’s Tori DiCarlo said. “It starts with the draw control and going through our plays, being patient, getting it around and waiting for our coaches and executing the plays they tell us to do.”

Garnet Valley midfielder Sydney Pyon just about summed it up: No ball equals a lot of defensive chasing. A lot of defensive chasing equals tired legs, which lead to goals allowed, which lead to the impulse to be too perfect once the ball returned their way.

Against a physical and savvy Radnor defensive group, that’s not a recipe for victory, especially with Garnet Valley trailing the whole way.

“I think that definitely made us a little bit antsy,” Pyon said. “We’re like, we need to get the ball, we need to turn (them) over. And I think that’s what hurt us when we got the ball. We made good stops on defense. I think in general, our backer zone looked good, our man(-to-man), we were stopping them, they were having to hold it for a long time. I think that looked good. But once we got it, we were like, ‘OK, we need to score not, and that didn’t happen.'”

“We know their attackers are going to be super desperate to get the goal when they come down here,” said Rinehart, whose myriad contributions were a huge stick check to deny Maddie Kalish an open look in the last two minutes. “So we have to be super ready.”

DiCarlo typified Radnor’s day in one late sequence. Kalish had just scored to get the game within 6-4 with 4:25 to play. DiCarlo won the ensuing draw, one of four DCs, tied for a game-high with teammate Julie Breedveld. Radnor held the ball for two minutes, then turned it over in the face of GV’s pressing defense.

But DiCarlo battled back, stripping goalie Sierra McLaughlin, scooping the GB and finding Sheila Esgro for her second goal of the game to make it 7-5 with 2:01 to play.

“Those are so important,” DiCarlo said. “It comes from the energy from going hard, wanting the ball back. It’s not just an attacking mentality. It’s attacking and defensive, and just knowing where the ball is and being able to turn around quickly and execute. We get the ball, everyone turns around, we’re communicating and we get the easy draw and dunk right in.”

DiCarlo scored twice in the first half and added two assists. Margaret Mooney had a goal and an assist in the first two possessions, which took seven-plus minutes. Sarah Kelley added a goal, Olivia Kelley had an assist and both contributed second-half hustle plays on the ground.

The game’s ebb and flow was bizarre for such a defensive game. The first eight-meter infraction wasn’t whistled until 20 minutes into the first half, a testament to how clean Garnet’s defense played, marshaled by MaryRose Berry and Lauren Bendo.

Pyon scored twice in the first half to keep Garnet afloat. Sophie Kingsborough scored from eight meters with 2:17 left in the first half, and Radnor goalie Abby Jansen denied Kalish’s bid to tie the game in the dying seconds of the first half.

Kingsborough answered Sarah Kelley’s goal within 17 seconds in the first minute of the second, after Kalish picked off a pass and fed her. But then the teams didn’t score for more than 17 minutes, thanks to some big saves by McLaughlin (4 saves) and Elise Palmer (3 saves in the second half for Radnor).

Olivia Kelley’s GB fed Sally Austen to make it 6-4 after they broke GV’s swarming ball pressure, and Palmer chested away a Pyon eight-meter shot that would’ve cut it to one goal with 1:30 to play. Kaitlyn Henning’s goal with 24 seconds left was too little too late.

“We knew it was going to be a battle going into it,” Rinehart said. “I thought it was going to be a defensive game. I know Garnet’s defense is good. I know our defense can bring it. Each possession, both offensively and defensively, was going to be important. It was that mentality going into it, that we can’t take any play for granted.”