STANFORD, Calif. – Radford’s 3-2 victory over Longwood in the NorPac third place match, not only gave the Highlanders (11-10) their first winning season since 1996, but the 11 wins are the most since head coach Jeff Woods’ 1991 squad won 17.
Box Score
Junior
Megan Lenhardt, who entered the match with six defensive saves, tallied two more to set a new single season record. The Gloucester, Va. native finished with eight which broke
Angela Feindt’s (2001-04) mark of seven recorded back in 2003.
Sophomore
Madonna Wadolowski (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon), who was named to the all tournament team, played a key factor in the victory, assisting on the first two goals and setting up the eventual game-winner with a blast off the pads that was cleaned up by classmate
Courtney Poole (Goucester, Va./Gloucester).
Wadolowski, who hails from Norwalk, Conn., recorded 10 assists on the year, the third best total in a single season for the Highlanders. Poole recorded the 10th best goal-scoring season with 11.
Longwood, who controlled play for the 15 minutes of the match, got on the board at 11:57 when Kristina Verhulst deflected Kelsey Turner’s corner shot over RU keeper
Jen Wisniewski (Centerville, Va./Westfield) for the early 1-0 lead.
Wisniewski came up big for the Highlanders making eight saves and finishing with 123 on the season, bringing her career total to 275, seventh best in school history.
The Highlanders tied it the 21st minute when sophomore
Niamh Connolly (Fredericksburg, Va./Chancellor), sitting on the far post, redirected Wadolowski’s shot from the right.
Sophomore
Melissa Register (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper) gave Radford its first lead of the match, early in the second half, slamming home a cross from Wadolowski through the keeper’s pads at 39:59.
The Lancers had a golden opportunity to tie it in the 51st minutes, but Lauren Van de Kamp’s penalty stroke hit the right post.
Poole pushed the Highlanders’ to 3-1 in the 60th minute. After Wadolowski weaved through the Longwood defense and ripped a shot off the keepers’ pads, Poole cleaned up the rebound.
That goal proved to be big as Longwood’s Julia Hernandez cut Radford’s lead to 3-2 scoring at 64:00 when she dove and poked in Samantha Wesser’s cross from the right.
The Highlanders held off the Lancers’ for the final six minutes to remain perfect in NorPac third place games at 5-0.
Longwood held advantages in shots (14-10), including 9-4 in the first half, and corners (6-5).