Roughed up
JACKSON TWP — No matter what the Seneca Valley girls lacrosse team did, there was no stopping Charlotte Redican.
The Shady Side Academy junior weaved through every kind of defense the Raiders threw at her and scored eight goals as the Indians ousted the Raiders from the WPIAL Division I playoffs, 12-10, at NexTier Stadium Friday night.
“Charlotte is unstoppable one-on-one,” said Shady Side Academy coach Emily Schaknowski. “She's a great dodger and a great shooter. Unstoppable and a hard worker. She fuels the other girls on the team.”
She certainly fueled the Raiders' loss.
Redican scored five goals in the first half as the Indians (8-5) led 8-4 at the break.
Her final goal with 2:05 remaining the second-half clock put Seneca Valley down 12-8 and effectively put the Raiders out of reach.
Seneca Valley coach Katie Smolter contemplated playing a special defense against Redican early, but opted against it.
“She's excellent. We tried to keep up with her and we were going to lock her in the beginning,” Smolter said. “But it's a team game. You don't want to show weakness by locking someone. It was a heartbreaker.”
Seneca Valley scored first when Emma Chieppor found the net off an assist from Erin Brock a little more than a minute into the game, but Shady Side Academy scored the next four goals.
The Raiders got as close as 4-3 midway through the first half, but found themselves down 11-6 midway through the second half.
Seneca Valley (9-8) scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart late, but simply ran out of time.
“The girls played hard. They hustled,” Smolter said. “They pressured. I couldn't have asked for anything more of them. They started a little late.”
The nerves were obvious. Seneca Valley made several mistakes that Smolter said was uncharacteristic of her team, especially in the opening minutes of the game.
“I think they just wanted it so badly,” the coach said. “Our team is mostly juniors, sophomores and freshmen and this being their first WPIAL playoff game, I think the nerves got to them.”
Shady Side Academy's defense was very aggressive, which didn't help the Raiders' nerves.
It's a style Schaknowski said her team has played all season — just not this well.
“This is the best we've executed it,” she said.
Seneca Valley expected the approach.
“It's pretty common now in Division I, just recently in the past three years,” Smolter said. “We had talked about it. We had planned for it, but it's still intimidating having a girl screaming in your face.”
Chieppor scored three goals to lead the Raiders. Hannah Kendrick added two goals and two assists.
Senior Lexi Pucci was held scoreless, but was flying all over the field, charged with trying to slow Redican.
“Pucci is a little speed demon,” Smolter said. “She definitely leaves her heart out on the field, and that's pretty evident in her level of play. Super aggressive player. Super sass player. And she's a natural born athlete who wants to win. I'm proud of the senior's success and wish them the best.”
