PEMBROKE — Soccer fans who attended both of the games this week between Richmond Senior and Purnell Swett high schools saw almost identical performances that resulted in the Raiders earning a crucial Sandhills Athletic Conference win.
Two nights after facing strong goalkeeping and earning a one-goal win at home, the Raider soccer team traveled to Purnell Swett on Wednesday for the final regular-season meeting between the two squads. It was deja vu for Richmond, which pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Rams.
Just like the first meeting, the Raiders and head coach Chris Larsen saw Purnell Swett take an early lead in the opening handful of minutes. But following the same script from Monday, Richmond netted two first-half goals from two different players and buckled down on defense to outlast the Rams in a scoreless second half.
Senior Luke Hawks would head in his fourth goal of the season in the 26th minute on an assist from senior Noah Jordan, and junior Karym Ojeda banged a ball in off the crossbar in the 36th minute, for what was his first career varsity goal.
The win proved to be Richmond’s fourth-straight conference win, coming at the turn of the SAC schedule. Currently, Richmond (5-7-2, 5-3 SAC) sits in the fourth-place spot behind Hoke County, Pinecrest and Lumberton high schools. Over the current winning streak, the Raiders have defeated Purnell Swett (5-11, 2-6 SAC) twice, along with Scotland and Seventy-First high schools.
“We put ourselves in a hole and we made it harder than it needed to be tonight,” Larsen said. “I really challenged the guys at halftime to come out and play the way I knew they could. Ever since the first half against Jack Britt, I haven’t seen them play with that same intensity, and we responded by playing really quality soccer in the first part of the second half.
“I’m happy that we got a win,” he added. “Luke scored a really nice header for what was probably our nicest goal this year, and it was even better that it tied it up. I told Karym that he needed to be ready to score off the bench, and 10 seconds in, he scored his first goal.”
In the third minute, Purnell Swett’s Jalen Hunt collected a bouncing ball in the box and sent it past Richmond’s junior goalkeeper Jay Ammons to give the home team an early advantage. The next 23 minutes saw the Raiders control possession and put shots on frame against Purnell Swett’s Nick Ramirez.
Senior Cole Deane saw a shot trickle wide left of the goal mouth in the 11th minute, and Kevyn Leviner and Jordan added a pair of header attempts that just sailed over the crossbar. Ammons also made a pair of sliding saves under pressure to keep the deficit at one goal.
In the 26th minute, a Rams’ foul allowed senior Drew Davis to take a free kick from 40 yards out. His ball found Jordan, who headed it from the left third to Hawks who was charging up the middle of the field. Contesting with Connor Jacobs, Hawks out-jumped his marker and sent a crafty header into the twine just over the hands of Ramirez for the equalizer.
Ten minutes later, Larsen would substitute some fresh legs into the game, seeing Ojeda get his first bit of action on the night. Just seconds after trotting onto the field, a throw-in by senior Chandler Sinclair bounced its way to Ojeda, who was inside the goalie’s box. He one-timed a shot that hit the crossbar and deflected down and in for the eventual game-winning tally.
Senior Lee Hayden and Ramirez ended the first half with an exclamation point, with Hayden sending a left-footed shot through traffic from 20 yards out, but saw Ramirez make a diving save to his right.
Richmond outshot the Rams 17 to 11 in Wednesday’s game, and Jordan opened the second half with a tight-angled shot from the left side that was stopped. Adding scoring chances in the second half were junior Hector Castro and junior Noah Aiken, whose one-on-one chance saw him tap a shot wide left.
“Our defense and our mids have played well all year locking down opposing offenses,” Larsen explained. “And tonight was no different. I give credit to those guys for helping out our keepers and limiting scoring chances for other teams.
“Now we get ready for another full week, which should be fun,” Larsen closed. “Hopefully we can carry the momentum over from this four-game winning streak and keep it going.”
Richmond will travel to Pinecrest (11-2, 6-1 SAC) on Monday, and follow up with a home match against Jack Britt (4-5, 3-3 SAC). Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.
