ROCKINGHAM — A common trend this season for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team has been getting down early in games. Although that happened again on Monday, the Raiders persevered and notched a big Sandhills Athletic Conference win.
Hosting Purnell Swett High School in the front end of a home-and-home series this week, Richmond would use the legs of seniors Lee Hayden and Cole Deane to get past a tough Rams team 2-1, earning their third-straight conference win.
A makeup game from when Hurricane Dorian impacted North Carolina earlier this month, the Raiders would outshoot the Rams 24 to 13, but Purnell Swett’s senior goalkeeper Nick Ramirez proved to be a wall to the barrage of shots he faced, recording 22 saves. But the goals from Hayden and Deane would be enough to send the Rams home with their fourth-straight loss.
“We’ve put ourselves in a hole several games this season, so we know what it’s like to play from behind,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “The guys didn’t give up and persevered, and I think that’s because it’s become an unwanted common trend for us.
“We didn’t play well the first seven or eight minutes and that proved to be a wake up call for us,” he continued. “Once we started getting the ball going in the right direction, the shots went on frame and we were able to score enough goals to win tonight.”
Not two minutes after the opening whistle, Purnell Swett’s Tyee Kirt blasted a 30-yard shot from the near sideline that knuckled its way into the right upper ninety past goalkeeper Jay Ammons. That put the Raiders down a tally just 1:41 into the game.
The early deficit was erased thanks to Hayden’s tally, his team-leading sixth goal of the season, in the 11th minute. Charging down the left sideline, senior midfielder Joey Nicholson played a through ball to Hayden, who took possession and sped around Nehemiah Maynor into the open field.
Ramirez charged toward Hayden trying to eliminate the angle of the shot, but Hayden was able to send a hard grounder to the far post for the score. It was Nicholson’s second assist on a Hayden goal in the last three games.
Hayden nearly scored his second goal of the first half in the 31st minute when he shot the ball from inside the 18-yard box toward an open net. Ramirez, who was reeling from making a play on the ball just moments before, slid across the goal mouth to make an impressive save and keep the game knotted at 1-1.
The Raiders had 11 total shots on goal in the first half, seeing senior Luke Hawks just miss off a corner kick from senior Chandler Sinclair. Deane had a nice header attempt that went wide in the 18th minute, and senior Blaise Steadman just missed over the crossbar a couple minutes later.
Senior Noah Jordan, who was named the Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week, had two shots on goal in the half, sending a shot just over the bar and another into the hands of Ramirez on a header attempt on a Justyn Leviner cross.
Ammons got some help from a couple of his teammates to keep the score tied in the opening 40 minutes. Junior Bradford Pittman deflected a shot with his foot and cleared it out in the 23rd minute, and Hayden blocked a ball on a direct kick as part of a wall in the 32nd minute.
Out of the halftime break, Hawks ripped three shots on net but saw all of them stopped. The Raiders kept peppering Ramirez, seeing junior Noah Aiken record two shots and another from Leviner.
It wasn’t until the 56th minute that Deane would score his first goal of the season and the eventual game-winner. Hawks would earn the assist on the play, making a smooth pass to Deane around the eight-yard mark from the left corner, who lifted the ball between the left post and Ramirez to give the Raiders the lead.
“We had a bunch of chances to score on that rush,” Deane explained. “And Luke just put the ball on a spoon for me and I was able to get a touch on it and put it in the top left.
“This is one of the first close games we’ve been able to score late and come back to win,” he added. “Purnell Swett is always a good competition, and I think the win tonight will continue to break the ice for use to play better soccer.”
Both teams would trade possession and shots the remaining 24 minutes, but neither squad could add to its total.
“I’m happy that Cole got his first goal of the year,” Larsen said. “I tell the guys to always be ready in the box because they never know when it could bounce their way, and that’s what happened with Cole tonight.
“Nick (Ramirez) has really good hands and isn’t afraid to get down, so that makes it tough to score on him,” he added of the Rams’ keeper. “He made some outstanding saves and we look forward to facing him again later this week.”
Richmond (4-7-2, 4-3 SAC) will go for its fourth-straight conference win when it travels to Pembroke to play the Rams (5-10, 2-5 SAC) on Wednesday. Play will get underway at 6 p.m.
