College Soccer
Overtime goal lifts Saint Joseph’s to Spring Cup title over La Salle
Valentina Nardone won a foot race into the box and was able to beat the La Salle keeper to the ball to finish a Spring Cup-winning goal for Saint Joseph’s on Saturday at Villanova.
Nardone’s goal, her second this spring, was a scrappy finish to a hard fought game between two Atlantic 10 rivals and avenged a loss for Saint Joseph’s in their first game in the competition back in February.
La Salle had the better of the chances in regulation but Saint Joseph’s goalkeeper Peyton Radwanski came up with a pair of saves during a key sequence to keep the Explorers off the scoreboard and extend the game to overtime.
Prior to the saves, Radwanski had gone down with an injury after a collision and one of Villanova’s goalkeepers started to get loose as a possible substitute but the sophomore from Brighton, Michigan was able to stay in the game.
“I knew I had to stay in the game and I didn’t want to let the team down,” Radwanski said. “We’ve all been working this whole spring to get better, pushing ourselves every day, early morning practices so I knew I when I had to stay in it and I had to stay mentally locked in.”
Shortly after kickoff of overtime, Saint Joseph’s had the ball and drew a foul near midfield that led to a free kick and when the ball cleared back out to defender Olivia Mancini she was able to send a ball into the box that Nardone ran onto and chipped past the keeper for the goal.
“I saw (Mancini) look up, and she was looking to play the ball in behind and then I just knew once we scored a goal, it was going to be the end of the game,” Nardone said. “I just gave it my all, and knew I had a slide to get to the ball, and then I just chipped it over the keeper and it went in. It felt amazing.”
Nardone, a rookie from Virginia, and Radwanski, had only five appearances between them in the fall so playing big roles in a cup final will help with their momentum both individually and the team as a whole. Playmaker Juliette Muro and standout rookie Chelsea Leal also had good outings helping to create a number of fluid attacks going forward. The back line also did well absorbing the pressure from La Salle forwards Justyce Hollenbach, Kayden Williams and Kameron Rase.
“That’s basically what our spring’s been about, just moving off the ball and having intentional passes and and not only keeping it but to create with it and connect the last pass,” head coach Jess Mannella said.
Mannella said Saturday’s win is a welcome reward for a team coming off a disappointing fall season where they finished 5-10-3 and just 2-6-3 in conference play.
“It’s nice that we keep getting better every game because that was our goal,” Mannella said. “We’re just excited that we’re concentrating on ourselves and we’re getting back on track with our culture.”
Saint Joseph’s will close out their spring campaign Friday at Lehigh.
