PEMBROKE — A pep talk by coach Chris Larsen during a scoreless halftime break prompted a strong second 40 minutes of play by the Richmond Raiders on Saturday.
Playing in their second match in three days, the Raiders rebounded from a season-opening loss with a 1-0 victory over Purnell Swett High School.
Larsen said the team spent much of Friday’s practice working on communication issues, as well as understanding the need for the team to create more scoring chances.
Richmond responded with eight shots on frame during the Sandhills Athletic Conference match, recording three in the first half and five in the second. Senior Noah Aiken, who tallied the game-winning goal, and junior Alex Medina both had two shots.
Also contesting Purnell Swett’s goalkeeper Daniel Hunt were seniors Hector Castro and Cale Luckey, junior Cody Eason and sophomore Ty Murray, who each had one blast on net.
“The first win always seems to be the hardest one to get,” Larsen said. “I didn’t have to tell the guys that today wasn’t our best game, but luckily we were able to come out with a win. Purnell had a few better chances to score than we had, but hopefully this will build a little momentum for us heading into next week.
“We struggled to get scoring opportunities in our first game, and today we were able to get our outside guys pushing up to have more than one body in front of the net,” he added. “That paid off for us.”
Aiken, who is the leading returning goal scorer from last year, broke the scoreless tie in the 46th minute.
The Raiders entered the offensive zone on a rush, and Medina worked the ball through the middle of the field before sending a pass through traffic to Aiken down the left side of the 18-yard box.
Aiken took a touch and launched the ball high and to the back post from 10 yards out on a tight angle to beat Hunt for the goal. Medina was credited with the assist, his first of the season.
“It feels good to get the win, but today showed we still have a lot to work on as a team,” Aiken said. “But getting a win is definitely going to help with our confidence.”
“In the first half, we had trouble distributing the ball,” he explained. “But we did a better job distributing the ball from the middle of the field in the second half, and I was lucky enough to get a great through ball from Alex and beat the defender and the keeper from the left side.”
Moments prior to his goal, Aiken nearly scored on a dish from Castro while running a similar line. Luckey’s shot came on a pass from Medina, which was the first play that got the Raiders rolling in the second half.
Although the first half was scoreless, both teams had opportunities to score. Junior Luke Williams made two runs on net for Richmond in the opening 10 minutes, and Medina sailed a ball just over the crossbar from 20 yards out in the 28th minute.
Eason’s shot came on a laser in the 30th minute from just outside the top of the box, and senior River Meacham also had a look on net to close out the final minutes of the half.
Jalen Hunt recorded two of his team-high three shots on goal for the Rams in the opening 40 minutes.
“Once Noah’s goal went in, the guys breathed a sigh of relief,” Larsen said. “The guys put a lot of the pressure on themselves, and today they just played, especially in the second half.”
Following Aiken’s goal, the Rams pressured Richmond goalkeeper Jay Ammons and the defense, but they stood tall. Two of Purnell Swett’s best scoring chances came from Nehemiah Maynor and Jalen Hunt, three minutes apart.
Maynor’s attempt went wide following a direct kick in the 63rd minute, and Jalen Hunt whizzed a shot over the crossbar in the 66th minute. Ammons and a host of Raiders also made a series of saves before clearing a loose ball in front of the net.
Richmond had three more scoring chances in the closing 10 minutes, starting with a Medina direct kick that hit a wall of Rams defenders. Castro registered his shot from the top of the box after a deflected pass from Aiken found him in space, and Medina recorded one more shot on frame with 4:50 to play.
In the latter part of the second half, Larsen explained he switched Richmond’s point of focus to its defense. One of the defensive playmakers for the Raiders was senior defender Bradford Pittman.
“I took Bradford and put him at center back today, and he may have locked down that role based on how he played,” Larsen said. “We talked about our communication issues from Thursday, and Bradford did a great job of organizing us in the back.”
“We are a heavy defensive team in our regular formation with four defenders and a holding midfielder,” Larsen explained of his defense. “The only thing I changed today was not to be so aggressive(on offense) in the last 10 minutes.
In addition to the back four defenders, Larsen rotated Eason, Medina, Williams and junior Pedro Molina at the holding midfielder spot to stop any Purnell Swett (0-2 SAC) scoring chances.
The Raiders (1-1 SAC) will host a home game for the first time this season on Monday. Jack Britt High School (1-0 SAC) will visit the Raiders at 7 p.m.
Prior to the varsity game, the Richmond junior varsity team will kick off its season at 5 p.m.
