The Radnor High School Girls’ Ultimate Frisbee team prepared hard all season long for the Pennsylvania State Championship tournament: practicing five days a week, attending weekend-long tournaments, and developing game strategies. On Memorial Day weekend, May 26th and 27th, their dedication paid off with the State Championship title after one of the most exciting games the team played this year.

On Saturday, the first day of the tournament, Radnor faced four games against both familiar and unfamiliar opponents. Radnor had an easy time handling their first three opponents, beating each by comfortable margins. By their last game, Radnor had already earned a place in the semifinals and was facing Allderdice High School from Pittsburgh for first place in the pool.  The game ended in a 7-8 “universe point” loss for Radnor. (Universe point occurs when game time has expired but the score is tied – the team that scores the next goal is the winner.)

In the semifinals on Sunday morning, Radnor faced local rival Lower Merion and came out of the gate ready to fight.  At halftime Radnor had a comfortable 7-2 lead. Despite a Lower Merion comeback in the second half, Radnor won the game 8-6 and earned the school’s first ever appearance in a state finals game.

The finals featured a familiar opponent -- Saturday’s foe and reigning state champions, Allderdice High School. Coach Mike Gentile reminded the team to stay relaxed but aggressive as he helped mentally prepare them for the final game. Senior captains Amy Moore, Erin Hadden, and Hannah Henkin provided additional words of inspiration and advice before game time.

Right at the start, Radnor proved they were ready to play, creating a quick turnover and capitalizing on it with a score from Amy Moore to senior Megan Doherty. Allderdice answered back and went on to take a 5-2 lead. After a time-out to refocus, Radnor rattled off 4 points in a row to regain the lead at 6-5. Key in this run were two goals by sophomore Emily Camacho and strong defensive play by juniors Emma Nicosia and Katie Cleveland. Allderdice was able to bounce back and took an 8-6 lead into halftime.

After halftime, only fifteen minutes remained in game.  Starting on offense after the half, Radnor scored immediately on a long backhand huck (throw) from Hannah Henkin to a speedy Erin Hadden. Radnor put up tough defensive pressure on the next point but both teams ran into trouble getting into the end zone. Eventually, Hadden was able to create a crucial defensive stop, and then ran deep to score on another long huck from Henkin to tie the game at 8’s. It was déjà vu, as time expired and the teams were faced with another universe point to determine the winner. Fortunately, Radnor was able to score quickly on a throw from senior Sam Kupersmith to junior Emma Nicosia to take the championship title.

Congratulations to the Radnor Girls’ Ultimate Frisbee team, 2012 Pennsylvania State Champions!

By Anna Spiridigliozzi

Note:  The Radnor Girls Ultimate Frisbee Team is part of the Radnor Ultimate Frisbee Club at Radnor High School.  The Club fields both boys’ and girls’ teams and welcomes new players.  For more information visit www.RadnorUF.com or email RadnorUF@yahoo.com.