ROCKINGHAM — Tuesday’s Lady Raider soccer match against visiting Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Scotland High School went just the way head coach Chris Larsen expected it to — once the Lady Raiders overcame a slow start.
Playing at home for the first time in over a week, the Lady Raiders rolled to their fourth-straight win, defeating the Lady Scots 6-0. It marked Richmond’s 11th straight win over the Laurinburg team, and was the fourth time in the last five games that the Lady Raiders held Scotland scoreless.
Richmond used four goal scorers on the night, with senior Morgan Hooks and sophomore Jayla McDougald each scoring two goals. Seniors Jessi Graham and Chloe Wiggins were responsible for the other two goals.
The Lady Raiders took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Graham knocked in a rebound in front of the net in the seventh minute. It was her fifth goal of the season. In the final 40 minutes of play, Richmond (7-2, 6-1 SAC) exploded for five goals.
“It took us a while to get started tonight, and I think that had to do with not playing everyone too much to save our legs for later in the week,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We weren’t in a good rhythm in the first half, but knocked the ball around much better in the second.
“Overall, it’s always good to come out with a victory regardless of what the score is,” he added. “At halftime I told the girls I’m happy that we’re finally starting to see the spaces we’re creating and playing those balls. Now that we’re doing it, we have to figure out how to get it in the back of the net.”
Wiggins started the second-half scoring spree in the 48th minute, beating a pair of defenders on the right sideline. She cut inside the top right of the 18-yard box and sent a laser just under the crossbar for her fourth goal of the season.
Hooks would score the next two goals for Richmond, coming in a nine-minute span. Her first goal of the night came in the 50th minute, a chip shot from 10 yards out off a deflection following a Wiggins corner kick.
In the 59th minute, Hooks collected the loose change in front of the net for her fifth goal of the season.
Like Hooks, McDougald would contribute on the next to goals to put the game out of reach. Playing in her third game since being called up from junior varsity, she slid a shot past Scotland’s keeper in the 64th minute on a Kaitlyn Huff assist inside the box.
With just under five minutes left in regulation, McDougald scored her third goal in as many games, booting in a ball from 10 yards out.
“When you look across the conference, a lot of teams have just one or two girls who score,” Larsen said. “For us it’s a benefit to have multiple girls who score and have the ability to score.
“It’s good to win four in a row, but you’re only as good as your next game,” he concluded. “We have some challenging games to close out the week.”
Following the win, Richmond sits alone in second place ahead of Jack Britt High School. Scotland fell to 0-8, 0-6 SAC and is tied with Seventy-First for last place in the conference standings.
Richmond will return to action Thursday and Friday, both at home, when it hosts non-conference Pine Forest High School and Purnell Swett High School. Both matches are set for a 7 p.m. start time.
Note: The Lady Raider junior varsity team also defeated Scotland Tuesday, rolling to a 7-0 victory. The Lady Raiders scored five goals in the first half before adding two more in the final 35 minutes. Sophomore Alma Lopez had a game-high two goals. Other goal scorers were Talayeh Covington, Paxlee Faircloth, Meghan McKenzie, Katelyn Millen and Crimson Singletary. Richmond improved to 6-0 on the season.
