By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/31/08
Bayard Rustin midfielder Allison Tatios believes that patience is the key to making an offense work.
“There is always a good cut, but there is always a perfect cut,” Tatios said. “If you’re patient, you can find it.”
Tatios and the third-seeded Golden Knights managed to find that perfect pass often enough today to claim a surprisingly-easy 19-10 victory over second-seeded Downingtown West in a District One Class AAA semifinal at West Chester East.
The win vaulted Rustin (17-2) into the finals Tuesday (8 p.m.) against top-seeded Radnor at Marple Newtown.
The Knights, who led 8-3 at halftime, were clinging to a scant 8-7 edge when Tatios scored three of her four goals to spark an 8-0 run. The senior, bound for national runner-up Penn, added four assists while Leanna Brewer added four goals and Kelsey Corbet had three. Six other players scored.
“Our defense was strong and they helped us in the midfield,” Tatios said. “This is big because we want to win for coach (Dale) Watkins (who is retiring after the season).”
The Whippets (20-3), who got three goals each from Sarah Phillips and Jaymie Tabor, never found a rhythm.
“Not to take anything away from them, but this was not our day,” said West coach Kelee O’Malley. “This was not the team we’ve seen all season. The kids gave their heart and soul all year; this is hard to swallow.”
Radnor 18, Boyertown 7
Junior Samantha Ellis scored five goals, Kelyn Freedman added three tallies and goalie Katie Geary recorded 10 saves as the top-seeded Red Raiders improved to 22-0 with the victory over the fourth-seeded Bears (18-4).
Radnor was leading, 5-2, when a severe thunderstorm stopped play for just over an hour and sent the teams to the locker rooms. After the break, the Raiders scored five of the last six goals of the half.
“We tried to relax, we were singing and dancing,” said Ellis. “We’re all best friends; we were just hanging out and keeping ourselves upbeat.
“We knew we had it, we just had to keep up the momentum.”
Kelly Barnes, Allie Martin, Beth Ellis and Courtney Campbell added two goals each for Radnor.
Sarah Bennett, Maggie Tamasitis and Emily Austerberry scored two goals apiece for Boyertown, the Pioneer Athletic Conference champion.
“The only way to stop them is to play flawless, make no errors and hope they make a lot,” said Bears coach Pam Wernersbach. “And they didn’t make many. I am very proud of the kids. People didn’t think we’d be that good this year because we lost so many seniors, but it was a great year.”
