By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/18/23
STATE COLLEGE – A suffocating Radnor defense held Springfield-Delco without a goal until midway through the final period as the Raptors defeated the Cougars, 8-1, Saturday for their third straight PIAA 3A championship at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium.
The dominating win helped Radnor (23-3) avenge a 10-8 loss to Springfield-Delco in the District 1 final and give the Raptors their fourth PIAA crown in eight seasons since 2014.
“Coach (John) Begier said at the beginning of the season that this (winning a state title) would be harder than in any season,” said Radnor’s senior All-American and co-captain defenseman Luciano Chadha. “It starts all over.
“At the beginning of the year, it was a little rocky; I don’t think necessarily we had great chemistry, but the guys stepped up. We had some stuff to figure out and I couldn’t be prouder of how we came together and figured everything out – every year is a new challenge. I feel we definitely rose to the new challenge and here we are with our third straight championship.”
Mason Montrella led the Radnor attack with four goals and Colin French had two goals and an assist while Max Goldstein and Owen Knight each scored once.
Radnor’s offense did not start fast. French scored the lone goal in the first period and made it 2-0 with 4:53 let in the half. Montrella put in his first late in the half, and then Radnor dominated the third period as Montrella made it 4-0 and added two more tallies after the Raptors’ defense killed off a two-man disadvantage and didn’t allow a Springfield-Delco shot. Owen Knight added a seventh goal to close the quarter, making it 7-0.
Nick DeCain had six saves for the Raptors, whose defense included close defenders Chadha, Michael Savadove, and Drew Knight, LSMs Pablo Strid, and Henry Pierce, and short stick defensive middies Cooper Mueller, Matt Wolfington, and Tucker Graham.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said DeCain. “This was my first year starting, so doing this with my brothers is special We worked so hard; we worked in the winter, we worked in the cold, we worked through rain. All those hours grinding when no one else was.
“There’s no better feeling than having it all pay off here in June.”
Springfield-Delco’s Aidan Kreydt scored the Cougars’ goal with 6:13 to play. Lucas Aaron won 8 of 13 faceoffs and Jackson Kennedy posted 8 saves. Springfield closed at 22-3.
“Coach Begier and (defensive coordinator John) Sims emphasize doing the little things right,” said Chadha. “I think everybody did a fantastic job communicating and today everything came together for us and we got the result we wanted. It’s a great feeling.”
Said senior All-American midfielder Cooper Mueller: “We started off a little rocky – we lost to Garden State ad Episcopal – and then midseason we started playing well. We had a couple injuries Michael Savadove goes down,, Drew Knight goes down in districts – but once we hit states we were firing. We were really confident coming into this game.”
Senior LSM Pablo Strid (one assist) said avenging the loss to Springfield was not a factor – he was focused on seeing the team play to its potential.
“Coach Begier does a great job of making sure we have a short memory, Strid said. “We knew how it felt (to lose), and we didn’t want to repeat that. We just wanted to make this its own story.
“I think we played together as a unit. We have great coaches who give s great advice and our scout team helped us so much in practice. This is a surreal feeling. It’s a game we’ve been working toward for a long time. Most of these guys have been playing together since we were 7.”
Springfield’s offense was further hindered by the loss of key junior attackman Tyler Gougler, who severely injured his knee in the Radnor win. Kreydt said the Cougars struggled to find openings in the Radnor defense, but he had no regrets with the team’s effort or its 2023 finish, which included the District 1 championship and their first state berth since winning the Class 2A title in 2017.
“We hit four or five post, but they played well and we didn’t adjust like we should have,” Kreydt said. “Still, we left everything out there. This is special to me, The run we made showed who we were and showed our grit.”
Added Springfield coach Tom Lemieux: “I am proud of our guys, They fought all year and played with heart. When you choose to play sprots, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and I thought our kids handled themselves well in both cases.
“It was a fun season. I am so proud of the seniors – there were not many of them – but they left a legacy here at Springfield. They led us all the way here. We are fortunate to have good kids like that in our program.”
Class AAA
Radnor 8, Springfield-Delco 1
Radnor 1-2-4-1- 8
Springfield 0-0-0-1 – 1
Springfield-D
Aidan Kreydt 1g
Lucas Aaron 8/13 FO
Jackson Kennedy 8 saves
Radnor
Colin French 2g 1a
Mason Montrella 4g
Tommy DeShan 1a
Max Goldstein 1g
Owen Knight 1g
Cooper Mueller 1a
Carter Mountain 5/10 FO
Luciano Chada 0/2 FO
Logan Montrella 0/1 FO
Nick DeCain 6 Saves
PIAA Champions (the two classifications system began in 2017)
2009: La Salle 7, Conestoga 3
2010: Conestoga 10, La Salle 6
2011: Conestoga 13, St. Joseph’s Prep 4
2012: Conestoga 10, La Salle 7
2013: La Salle 13, Conestoga 4
2014: Penncrest 12, Avon Grove 7
2015: Radnor 11, St. Joseph’s Prep 10, OT
2016: Springfield-Delco 4, La Salle 3
2017 Class AAA – Avon Grove 5, Conestoga 4, 2 OT
2018 Class AAA – Manheim Township 6, La Salle 4
2019 Class AAA – La Salle 7, Conestoga 5
2020 Class AAA – No season due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Class AAA – Radnor 10, Kennett 2
2022 Class AAA – Radnor 12, Garnet Valley 5
2022 Class AAA – Radnor 8, Springfield-Delco 1
