All season long, St. Paul’s leaned on its defense to guide the way through sometimes uncomfortable situations. And with 30 seconds to play in Friday night’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference final, the Gators needed that to happen one more time.
Clinging to a one-goal lead against top-ranked McDonogh, No. 3 seed St. Paul’s was tasked with stopping Kate Levy, the best all-around player in the conference, from scoring to force overtime.
And once again, the Gators defense came up huge when goalie Susan Radebaugh used her stick to knock away Levy’s low shot with 20 seconds remaining, enabling St. Paul’s to hold on for a 7-6 win and avenge last year’s title game loss to the Eagles at USA Lacrosse in Sparks.
“All year long the defense has been the backbone of this team. We said, ‘We’ve got it,'” St. Paul’s coach Mary Gagnon said. “We knew that Kate was going to get the ball. We were gonna try to deny it, but she got the ball. We said, ‘Let Suze make the save,’ and Suze made the save.”
“Our defense forced a low-angle shot. It was a good shot,” Radebaugh said. “We’ve been fired up this whole week from Maryvale [in Wednesday’s semifinals] to now.”
The game came just nine days after St. Paul’s lost to McDonogh, 10-8, in the regular season.
“We played McDonogh so recently and we were just so ready for it,” Radebaugh said. “We always step up when we have something to prove.”
The save was one of 10 on the night for the Florida-bound senior in a game in which time and again both she and McDonogh goalie Reagan O’Donovan came up with clutch stops.
“Susan Radebaugh played out of her mind. Out of her mind,” McDonogh coach Megan Nicotra said. “I think St. Paul’s played an unbelievable game. They were feisty, they were tenacious and they capitalized one more time than we did.”
The Gators (16-5), playing in the final for the fifth straight season, claimed their third title in four years. This time, it came against a McDonogh squad that entered the day as the nation’s consensus No. 2 team.
Junior Riley Vasile, picking an apropos way to celebrate her birthday, scored three goals, including the go-ahead goal on a free position with 9:29 to play. Senior Kira Balis and junior Carolina Hoskins also helped St. Paul’s to a 10-7 advantage in draws, making the Gators one of the rare teams to outduel Levy and the Eagles in the circle.
The win ended a season during which the Gators struggled at times with a young offense and uncharacteristically lost three straight games around midseason. It was that adversity that Vasile said helped her team stay with McDonogh (17-2) when the Eagles started the third quarter by scoring three out of four goals, including one of two by senior Lela Greene, to turn a halftime deficit into a 6-5 lead.
“Early in the season we dealt with a lot of adversity, so we’ve dealt with much worse and come back from much worse,” Vasile said. “I’m just really proud of this team to be able to handle that.”
McDonogh took the early lead on a goal from Sophia Trahan, but St. Paul’s took control by scoring three of the next four, including a pair of unassisted goals by Vasile. The Eagles, whose only other blemish this season was a one-goal loss to Episcopal Academy (Pa.) in March, never got into a rhythm offensively, but also never trailed by more than one.
McDonogh got its last chance to tie after forcing a turnover along the far sideline with 52 seconds left. When Nicotra called a timeout shortly after, there was no doubt what the play would be.
“We were giving Kate the ball. She had the green light to go,” Nicotra said. “I think that she’s been really the heart and soul of this team. If you asked me again, I’d give it to her again. I think Susan made a phenomenal save on that. Kate hit a pipe on the possession before, so we had our chances. Sometimes they don’t fall your way.”
“The last 20 seconds was up to D, and it’s been up to D the entire season, and it showed,” said Vasile, adding that she never had a doubt Radebaugh would make the save. “No doubt, no doubt. Best goalie in the IAAM.”
For McDonogh, the loss puts a sour end to an otherwise brilliant season that included a 14-game winning streak.
“This team is incredible, and it’s been a huge blessing to be able to coach them,” Nicotra said. “This senior class has left huge shoes — a legacy that they’ve built over the past four years that is going to be looked up to by a ton of players to come.”
Goals: SP — R. Vasile 3, O’Day 2, Porter, C. Vasile; McD — Greene 2, Trahan, Levy, Lawson.
Assists: SP — Hoskins, R. Vasile; McD — Greene.
Saves: SP — Radebaugh 10; McD — O’Donovan 8.
Half: St. Paul’s, 4-3.
