Radnor Lax Falls To Conestoga

The tiny creases, the brief intervals, the rare slips, if a team doesn’t pounce on them, there is little chance that lacrosse team would ever have a chance of beating a team the caliber of Conestoga.

The thing is though, those tiny creases, the brief intervals, the rare slips were all there at times in the first half to be taken by against the defending state champions Tuesday night.

The Red Raiders, however, failed to pounce. Conestoga circumvented a shaky first half to an impressive 11-3 Central League boys’ lacrosse victory, and remained undefeated at 11-0 and nationally ranked, at No. 2 in the country by Inside Lacrosse, MaxPreps/CBS and ESPN.

Radnor, meanwhile, dropped to 5-6 with a very young team that at any one time had seven sophomores on the field. Chalk it up as a learning experience against the defending PIAA state champion Pioneers.

“I’ll tell you, they were really coming at us in the first half, and we didn’t help ourselves too much, because we sloppy with the ball,” Pioneers’ coach Brian Samson said. “They got some good pressure on us, and our goaltender John Lopes really bailed us out, because it could have been a different game if they did score there.”

Conestoga got out to a 1-0 lead, but Radnor’s Ben Junior tied it at 1-1. That’s when it seemed that sliver of a major upset was brewing, because the Red Raiders proceeded to swarm the Conestoga cage and pelt Lopes with shots. He denied them all.

The sliver of opportunity was open—and then just as quickly shut. The Pioneers regrouped and took control. By halftime, Conestoga led 5-1. Early in the fourth quarter, it was 10-2 and then quickly 11-2.

Ben Junior, Jeff Puckette and Tom Hemcher all tallied goals for the Red Raiders.

If not for the fine effort by Radnor sophomore goaltender Brendan Manderack, it could have been worse.

“We are really young with a lot of sophomores in the field, seven at one time, but they’ve already received considerable playing experience and should be playing like juniors,” Radnor coach John Begier said. “We did have an opportunity to stay with them in this game. Conestoga is clearly a good team, and they’re not the type pf team you have turnovers against. We needed to take care of the ball and we didn’t. They bring pressure all over the field.”

There was Manderack, who managed to put a stick or a foot on a number of lasers that were aimed at him. He dealt well with Conestoga’s heat.

“I kind of like that; I think I do well in pressure situations,” Manderack said. “And Conestoga puts pressure on you. They take fast shots and they’re unpredictable. You need to watch the ball and talk defense.”

Both Radnor and Conestoga will move on to the Katie Samson Festival on Saturday at Radnor. Conestoga faces the test of the year against the nation’s No. 1 team, Haverford School, while Radnor plays a tough foe in Episcopal Academy.