ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team put forth one of its best efforts of the season on Monday, according to head coach Chris Larsen.
The fourth-place Raiders welcomed in Sandhills Athletic Conference leading Hoke County High School for the final of the teams’ two regular-season meetings. Despite taking an early lead in the game’s opening 10 minutes, the Raiders would allow four unanswered goals, three in the second half, and fall 4-1.
When the Raiders and Bucks met in Raeford on Sept. 16, Hoke County (16-2, 11-0 SAC) also won by the same score.
Senior Noah Jordan would spark the Raiders’ strong showing in the ninth minute when he laced a 30-yard free kick to the bottom left post following a Hoke County foul. The shot went over a wall of defenders and snuck past a diving Brandon Wilkes to give the Raiders an early 1-0 advantage. It would be Jordan’s fourth goal of the season.
“Scoring first gave us a little momentum, and the guys showed up ready to play tonight,” Larsen said. “Noah had a nice little shot to beat the keeper and that really showed our guys that anything can happen and records don’t mean anything.
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half, and that carried over for a majority of the game,” he added. “The score tonight doesn’t indicate how the game went. I told them this was the best they’ve played the last handful of games.”
The Raiders (6-9-2, 6-5 SAC) would maintain control of the scoreboard for much of the first half, seeing junior goalkeeper Jay Ammons make a handful of saves in the opening 15 minutes. His most impressive save of the night came against Denali Bascombe in the 16th minute when he laid out to make a fingertip save up and over the crossbar on a shot from inside the box.
Bascombe would respond, however, just three minutes later in the 19th minute, bending a perfect shot off a corner kick from the far corner. The ball curved into the upper right corner of the goal, and Ammons’ punch attempt failed to clear the ball.
Both teams would trade possession and scoring chances in closing 20 minutes to see the halftime score hold at one goal apiece. Senior Blaise Steadman had a scoring chance in front on a bouncing ball, but Xavier Hernandez made a sliding save across the goal mouth. Junior Noah Aiken also had a scoring chance, but his rip on frame was stopped by Wilkes with just over a minute left in the half.
Hoke County would take a 2-1 lead in the 37th minute when Hernandez launched a free kick near midfield. The shot bounced one time inside the box and Ammons came out to stop it, but misplayed the ball and saw it roll into the empty net behind him.
The Raiders would have two more solid scoring opportunities to tie the game, starting with junior Hector Castro just toeing a shot wide on a Jordan throw in during the 59th minute. That was followed by a liner from senior Drew Davis in the 62nd minute. Davis’ shot came from the top of the 18-yard box following a series of deflections off a corner kick, but Wilkes was able to corral the ball.
The Bucks would open it up in the 64th and 75th minutes. Juan Santos-Eulogio managed to collect a loose ball inside of 10 yards from the net, turned, and put his shot top shelf for an insurance goal.
Following a Richmond yellow card that saw the Raiders play a man down for a short amount of time, Bascombe would take advantage of the numbers and score on a tight-angled shot from the left side of the field for the final tally of the game.
“We got a little tired late and I was trying to substitute and save some legs,” Larsen explained. “The opportunities were there, but we just had trouble putting the ball in the back of the net. There were a couple of unlucky bounces for us that led to goals for (Hoke County).
“Even though we lost, we played hard and that shows we can play with anyone on any night,” he closed. “What we’ve worked on all season is showing, and hopefully we can carry that with us into three big games to finish out the season.”
Richmond has three more regular season games left, starting with a road match at fifth-place Lumberton High School (11-8, 5-5 SAC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
