By Harry Chaykun
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/12/24
Radnor built a big early lead then held off a frantic Penncrest rally in the second half to earn a 13-11 decision in a PIAA Class 3A semifinal game at Henderson Tuesday night.
The Central League champion Raptors (23-2) will face league rival Conestoga (20-4) for the state championship at Penn State University’s Panzer Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Conestoga outlasted Manheim Township, 5-4, in two overtimes.
The Raptors, No. 1 in the PA State Lacrosse Rankings, earned a 9-7 decision over the No. 2 Pioneers in the District 1 title match two weeks ago after beating them, 7-6, when the teams met on May 7 for the Central League title.
Junior Taylor Murphy scored all five of her goals in the first half and added a second-half assist to pace the Radnor attack. Senior Sarah Kelley added three goals and an assist and junior Marin Mooney chipped in with a pair in the second half for the Raptors.
Murphy got the first three goals of the game, the third 36 seconds before the end of the first quarter with her team down one player because of a yellow card violation. Sixteen seconds later, Kelley made it 4-0, assisted by Kate Gallagher.
“The first time we played them we got down 4-1 before we came back,” said Murphy, a Duke signee. “But you have to give credit to our seniors. They are the ones who held us together.
“We really beat (Penncrest) them pretty good when we played them in districts, but we knew this game would be a lot closer.”
Before the first period ended, junior Cara Childs, a Lehigh signee, notched the 100th goal of her varsity career to put Penncrest on the scoreboard.
It took Radnor less than four minutes to get the first three goals of the second period. Kelley scored one, then Gallagher assisted on a Murphy goal and junior Riley d’Entremont converted a feed from Cara Ruggieri. The bad news for the Raptors was that Gallagher, who also had a pair of draw controls, had to leave the game with an ankle injury 10 minutes before halftime.
“It’s never a good thing to lose a strong player like Kate who means so much to your team,” Radnor head coach Lis Zuern said. “But we do have others who can step in when we need them and help keep us going.
“All season long we’ve kept our goals small and went after them. Now there’s just one left.”
Adisyn Bernhardt’s two goals helped Penncrest cut its deficit to five goals at halftime, then the Lions, who got the last two goals of the first half, scored the first two of the second half. Kate Stanton tallied in the opening minute of the third quarter and Lylah Pompetti followed up on Stanton’s play with a goal 35 seconds later as the Lions’ faithful came to life.
Kelley and Ruggieri, who was assisted by Murphy, responded for the Raptors, who owned a four-goal lead as the last period began.
“Everything I did, and anything the rest of us (non-seniors) did was for our seniors,” Murphy said. “We couldn’t let them down.”
Pompetti, Stanton (3G, 2DC), and Kathryn Harding scored in the fourth quarter for Penncrest and Kaitlyn Roth was key with eight draw controls and three groundballs, but Radnor goalie Arden Jansen (8 saves) made several key stops, Anna Reger had a key caused turnover, and Mooney scored her second goal as Radnor survived and give its seniors a good night’s sleep in preparation for today’s graduation.
“I remember what it was like when we lost our last game last year,” Jansen, happy to head to Happy Valley where she is signed. “The tears, the disappointment. I went home and thought that we should be excited for the future and how what happened to us should be what would help fuel us for this season.
“We knew playing against Penncrest would be a lot harder than the last time we played them and we expected them to really put up a fight because they do have a lot of talent. But we were on a mission to get to Panzer.”
PIAA Class AAA semifinals
Radnor 13, Penncrest 11
PHS: 1 – 3 – 4 – 2: 11
RHS: 5 – 5 – 3 – 1: 13
Penncrest
Kate Stanton: 3G, 2DC, 2GB, 1CTO
Adisyn Bernhardt: 3G, 1GB
Kat Harding: 2G, 1DC, 2GB
Mira Kuttymartin: 2GB, 1CTO
Gabby Poole: 2GB
Celeste Cahill: 1GB
Lylah Pompetti: 1G, 3A, 2GB
Reese Bigler: 1G, 3GB, 4CTO
Cara Childs: 1G, 1DC (100th career goal)
Kaitlyn Roth: 1A, 8DC, 3GB, 1CTO
Marissa Kamin: 1GB, 2CTO
Reese Wickman: 3 Saves, 1GB
Lynzee Anderson – 1 save
Steph Dunbar – 2 saves
Radnor
Taylor Murphy 5G 1A
Sarah Kelley 3G 1A
Marin Mooney 2G
Fran Lucchesi 1G 1A
Riley d’Entremont 1G 1A
Cara Ruggieri 1G 1A
Kate Gallagher 2A.
Arden Jansen 8 saves
