RADNOR — Meg Corliss had played less than a minute in goal for Archbishop Carroll Friday afternoon and had been scored on twice.
She just needed a little time to warm up.
Corliss, a junior who shares time with senior Maura Gallagher, stopped six of the last seven shots she faced while her teammates rallied from a three-goal deficit and earned a 9-8 nonleague lacrosse victory over Radnor.
The win kept Carroll undefeated (14-0-1) while Radnor’s eight-game winning streak came to an end.
“That was an exciting game,” said Carroll coach Lorraine Beers, whose team will be the top seed in the Catholic League playoffs as the Patriots go after their seventh straight championship later this month.
“Both of our goalies have been playing well, and today they really made a difference.”
Mary Beth Brophy, whose pass to her sister, Annie, resulted in the winning goal with 1:55 to play, has recognized the contributions Gallagher and Corliss have made to the Patriots’ success.
“They’ve raised their games to a new level this year,” said Brophy, whose goal with 15:36 to play was the first of four in a row for Carroll that wiped out Radnor’s 8-5 lead.
Once they went ahead, the Patriots got a little careless with the ball and set the Red Raiders (12-3) up with some good scoring chances. Corliss erased her teammates mistakes with key saves, her biggest coming when she stopped Kelly Barnes, who had just taken a pass from Lexie Yakulis.
“We beat them last year,” Corliss said, “and I was so nervous when I went out there.
“On that shot (by Barnes) you don’t always know where the ball is on a pass like that. I go to a spot because they usually shoot high on that kind of play.”
She was in the right place at the right time. So were so many of her teammates, including Gabby Capuzzi, who scored four goals and had one assist, Olivia Salata, who got a pair of goals, and the Brophy sisters, who both chipped in with one goal and one assist.
“I was more of a passer and possessor than a scorer today,” said Mary Beth Brophy, who will play next spring at Georgetown University.
“I’ve enoyed being able to play with Annie (who missed last season because of knee surgery) this year. You learn things by playing together.”
Radnor learned at halftime it would have to play without junior Beth Ellis, who got the Red Raiders’ first goal, in the second half. Ellis suffered a bad cut on her head on the last play of the opening half and was taken to the hospital.
Meredith Lussier scored four goals and Gabby Miller had two for Radnor. Lussier’s goal with 16:35 left gave her team a three-goal advantage.
Mary Beth Brophy, Capuzzi (from Tara Mitchell) and Salata (free position) got Radnor even, then the teams battled for the advantage for more than seven minutes before the Brophys broke the tie.
Radnor goalie Emily Geary made a strong stop on Mary Beth Brophy and Corliss stopped Yakulis to keep the game tied.
Annie Brophy made sure her sister knew where she was on the winning goal.
“Gabby shot the ball and it went behind the cage,” she said. “Tara got it and gave the ball to Mary Beth. The goalie was low on the right side and I was open. I just started screaming (to her sister), then I got the ball and just placed it.
“We knew they’d want to come over here and beat us on our field after we beat them at their field last year. (Co-captain) Christine Reading just told us before the game we weren’t going to let that happen.”
In other nonleague action:
Strath Haven 15,
Hatboro-Horsham 14
Emily Garrity’s goal with nine seconds to play gave the visiting Panthers the victory.
Garrity, who had six goals and two assists, scored Strath Haven’s final four goals. Alyssa Kovach got four goals and two assists and Annalise Penikis added two goals and one assist for Haven (13-1).
Downingtown West 28,
Garnet Valley 16
Adrienne Shaw scored five goals and had one assist and Melissa Montella added three goals for the host Jaguars.
Jacqui German (four assists), Tori Mitros, Rachel Wesolowski and Jen Homka all scored two goals for Garnet Valley (9-4).
Great Valley 18, Haverford 6
Kelly Root scored four goals and Emily Edwards and Liz Bassani had one goal apiece for the Fords (3-9).
Catholic League
Cardinal O’Hara 16,
Archbishop Prendergast 4
Mary Houtmann and Michele DuBois both scored two goals in each half for the host Lions (7-3, 7-2).
Stephanie McCoy, Lindsay Ward and Jordan Stefanide scored two goals apiece for O’Hara, which got 12 saves from goalie Steph Tracy.
Bridget O’Brien got two goals and Steph Viola and Brittany Scanlan also scored for Prendergast.