By Harry Chaykun
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/7/24
It was Youth Day at Radnor High tonight as the Raptors hosted Conestoga in a game that would determine first place in the Central League.
Dozens of young ladies from the Radnor Youth Lacrosse program formed a reception line as the Raptors were introduced and ran to midfield before the opening draw.
“I remember coming up here and doing that when I was younger,” Radnor senior Kate Gallagher said after the Raptors 7-6 won them the Central League title. “We know how tough it always is when we play Conestoga. A lot of energy and emotion is built up for the game. And tonight’s game was for the Central League championship.”
Radnor, No. 2 in Class AAA in the PA State Rankings and No. 5 in the Phillylacrosse.com Rankings, finished an 11-0 league season and is 15-2 overall. Conestoga (No. 1 in the State Rankings and No. 2 by Phillylacrosse.com, is 14-3 and had a 13-game win streak snapped.
Radnor began the week as the second-ranked Class 3A team in District 1, behind only undefeated Downingtown West. Conestoga stood at No. 4 in the standings, trailing West, ’Stoga and Upper Dublin as all of the teams await this weekend’s district tournament seeding meeting.
Ten days ago, Radnor, which is seeking its first state title since 2021, jumped to a big first quarter lead against defending Class 2A state champ Archbishop Carroll but surrendered that lead and lost in overtime.
“Our coach reminded us about that,” Gallagher said of Lis Zuern’s message to her team after Conestoga scored the only two goals of the second quarter and outscored Radnor in the third, 3-1, to pull even entering the final 12 minutes of play.
Grayson Buono scored on an 8-meter shot in the third minute of the final period to put the Raptors back on top, and 3½ minutes later Gallagher gave Radnor a two-goal advantage.
“I made a cut and was going to try to set a screen,” said Gallagher, who will play at Army. “I noticed their girl slipped and Taylor (Murphy) gave me a great pass and I ended up scoring.”
The Raptors helped Zuern earn her first Central League crown as head coach.
“Conestoga played a great game, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time we play them this season,” she said. “We wanted to come out strong the first quarter, but we knew they would come back. We made some adjustments at halftime because we expected Amy (Orcutt, Conestoga’s head coach) to be making adjustments of her own. She does an amazing job with that team.”
Amazing would be a good descriptive adjective for the way Sarah Kelley played on attack and Arden Jansen performed in goal for the Raptors.
Kelley scored three of her four goals in the opening period, the third just six seconds before the close of the quarter.
Jansen got in the way of 11 Conestoga shots, with seven of her saves coming in the first half.
“When they came back on us, I know we all had what happened in the Carroll game in the back of our minds,” Kelley said. “We told ourselves we couldn’t give up. We knew we had to push back.
“When we needed big saves, Arden gave them to us. Then it was up to us to go back the other way and score some more goals.”
Jansen got plenty of defensive support from Anna Reger, Grace Gordon and other defenders in holding the high-scoring ’Stoga attack players in check.
“I’ve played against them and some of their players were my (club) teammates,” Jansen said. “You go over things with the defense, like their tendencies and how they like to play as you try to get ready to face them.”
Senior Natalie Yarmark was the only Conestoga player to score two goals. Ellie Wisch chipped in with one goal and eight draw controls.
“I love to play against Radnor,” Orcutt said. “You know they will be strong and it will be a good game, a game either team could win.
“We let them get in front and didn’t always take advantage of our opportunities, which we will have to do if we wind up playing them again.”
Radnor 7, Conestoga 6
Conestoga 0 3 2 1 – 6
Radnor 4 0 1 2 – 7
Conestoga: Natalie Yarmark 2G, Keating Hopkins 1G, Chloe Brown 1G, Ellie Wisch 1G, Kiki Liebezeit 1G.
Radnor: Sarah Kelley 4G, Grayson Buono 1G 1A, Cara Ruggieri 1G, Kate Gallagher 1G, Fran Lucchesi 1A Taylor Murphy 1A.
Goalies: Alex Lepore (Conestoga) 3 saves; Arden Jansen (Radnor) 11 saves.