CHARLOTTE — Making up a rain-out from earlier in the season, the Richmond boys’ soccer team faced Independence High School in a non-conference match on Monday.
Kicking off their final week of the regular season, the Raiders suffered a 5-1 loss to the Patriots.
In a match that head coach Chris Larsen said “any soccer fan would have enjoyed watching,” the Raiders carried a one-goal deficit into the final six minutes.
But the Patriots capitalized late in the match and scored their final three goals in the closing moments.
Richmond trailed 1-0 at halftime and Independence (8-8) scored another goal early in the second half. Tallying the Raiders’ goal was junior striker James Eason.
The Raiders were awarded a free kick just outside the 18-yard box and Eason bent his shot around a two-man wall to find the back of the net to the keeper’s left.
“We played really, really well tonight and the score doesn’t indicate anywhere close to what the game was like,” Larsen said. “It was a close back-and-forth ball game until the last six minutes.
“I thought we created some chances and had some opportunities on free kicks and an indirect kick inside the box,” he added. “I hate that we lost, but I want the guys to use it as a positive to direct us in the right direction for our final match on Wednesday.”
Now 4-14-1 this season, the Raiders will close out the regular season at Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Scotland High School (3-11, 0-10 SAC) on Wednesday.
Richmond has a 3-8 record against SAC teams this season and look to sweep the last-place Fighting Scots. Play begins at 6 p.m.
Note: The junior varsity soccer team’s season concluded last week.
