ROCKINGHAM — Playing on back-to-back nights on Tuesday, the Richmond boys’ soccer team couldn’t outrun Terry Sanford High School in a non-conference match.
Plagued by injuries and forced two play down two players following a pair of red cards for nearly 50 minutes, the Raiders suffered a 7-0 loss.
The Bulldogs scored five goals in the first half, netting their first two on headers coming off a set piece.
Carrying the five-goal advantage into the second half, Terry Sanford added two more tallies in the final 40 minutes.
“We came out pretty promising in the first seven to 10 minutes, but the first two goals were a result of our guys not following their marks,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “I switched things up tonight with a slight change in our formation, but when we give up three or four goals on set pieces, it’s inexcusable.
“After we committed a foul and got a man down, the wheels fell off,” he added. “We committed another foul that the ref deemed excessively dangerous, which was the second red card. We finished the first half and the rest of the game with nine guys, which really isn’t something you can scheme up in practice.”
Aside from Tuesday’s loss and one other match against Lumberton this season, Larsen said the Raiders have been competitive in every match.
Several one-goal games could have gone in their favor, and as the turn of Sandhills Athletic Conference play nears, Larsen expressed the hope of “playing extra soccer” is still a possibility.
“I told the guys at halftime we needed to make it respectable in the second half,” Larsen said. “Playing 9v11 there’s only so much you can do. But we held them to just two goals, so we’ll take that as a win.
“Tomorrow we’re going to go back and watch film and see our mistakes visually,” Larsen said. “Now we have to regroup, find the positives and try to even our conference record with a win against Scotland.”
The Raiders (3-8-1, 2-3 SAC) will close the first round of SAC play on Monday at home against rival Scotland (3-5, 0-4 SAC). The varsity match will start at 6 p.m.
JV Raiders draw even with Bulldogs
The opening and closing five minutes of Tuesday’s junior varsity soccer match saw each team score one goal, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
The JV Raiders took an early 1-0 lead over the JV Bulldogs thanks to a goal from Memphis Jacobs, which would hold through halftime and for most of the second half.
In the final minutes of the game, Terry Sanford managed to even the score and the clock expired before either team could find the back of the net again.
“Even though we tied, I thought the guys played a much better game tonight,” head coach Bennie Howard said.
The JV Raiders are now 2-4-3 on the season.
