Boujoukos’ brace sends Radnor into state final

WORCESTER TWP. — Kate Boujoukos strode into the penalty area Tuesday with plenty on her mind.

It wasn’t a singular focus that compelled the Radnor midfielder forward late in a tie game. It wasn’t the tunnel-visioned, zoned-in view that shut all else out.

Instead, Boujoukos carried the pressure of the moment with pride.

“I knew those were the last moments of the game,” Boujoukos said, “and I knew if I wanted to play again with my team, because I love all the girls on my team, I had to finish in that moment.”

Ever one to embrace the pressure, Boujoukos delivered.

Her goal with 2:46 left in regulation was her second of the night, the game-winner in a 2-1 victory for the District 1 champion over Archbishop Ryan in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals at Methacton.Radnor (20-4) moves to the state final, its first foray this deep since the program won it all in 1999. It’s also another late escape for the Raptors, who needed a 78th-minute penalty from Emily Daiutolo in the quarterfinal against Northwestern Lehigh to set up Ivy Chaskelson’s double-OT clincher.

Boujoukos had opened the scoring in the 16th minute. A rampant effort from Ryan after the break, though, got the District 12 champs deservingly back on level terms via Rebecca Dalton in the 55th.

But Radnor managed to even out play. Making steady progress down the right wing via Selah Koleth, the ball filtered to right back Julie Breedveld in the 77th. She played a hopeful ball into a dangerous area that Chaskelson, the freshman forward who’s played hero each of the last two games, brought down and navigated around her marker. She poked it to her right, into the run of Boujoukos, the physical center midfielder who’d made daring runs into the box all night.

Boujoukos took a touch in traffic and fired a right-footed shot back across the grain, leaving goalie Alana Verello to merely flap at its vapor trail.

The first goal was even more technically challenging, Boujoukos finding a seam as Ryan tried to raise its back line after a corner. Sydney O’Shea’s ball from right back bounced into that space, and Boujoukos executed a superb volley that flew over the onrushing Verello and dipped magnificently into the net.

“I’m not really normally good at volleys,” Boujoukos said. “I used to be pretty bad at them. But my dad used to take me out and we’d practice shots like that. I saw that there was a wide open space in the middle, so I just timed it right. I didn’t see the goalie if she was running out or anything, so I just kind of hit it at the first chance I got.”

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