ROCKINGHAM – For the last time this season, the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raiders soccer team played a match. And for the final time in his illustrious 30-year coaching career, head coach Bennie Howard captained his Lady Raiders from the sidelines.
For the first time since 2004, the No. 13 seeded Lady Raiders hosted a North Carolina High School Athletic Association first-round playoff game in Rockingham. Notching its highest tournament seed in that span (No. 2 in 2004), Richmond welcomed in No. 20 Porter Ridge High School (Indian Trail, N.C.) Wednesday night.
What looked to be a promising start with the Lady Raiders (17-6) jumping ahead 2-0 with nearly an entire second half to play, all was washed away when the Lady Pirates netted three unanswered goals in a 22-minute span. Richmond’s season ended in a 3-2 opening-round loss, and failed to advance past the first round of the state playoffs since 2004.
“I thought we played a heck of a first half, but it was Christmas in May because we gave them a really nice gift,” Howard said after addressing his team after the game for one last time. “When we got down, we got away from our game plan which was to go out wide and not send balls over the top to let their center backs clear them.
“We tried, but we couldn’t get the ball back to Chloe (Wiggins) on the outside,” Howard continued. “But I’m so proud of the girls for what they did. I hate that we got bumped in the first round. I wish Porter Ridge luck against Providence (High School) in the second round.”
Facing an unfamiliar opponent in the Lady Pirates (13-8, Southwestern Conference), Richmond made quick work in the first half to control the game’s momentum. One thing Howard noted heading into the playoffs was the necessity for his team to score quickly and set the tone early. The Lady Raiders did just that, putting their first mark on the board in the 14th minute.
Richmond maintained possession deep in Porter Ridge’s zone in the first 10 minutes of play, and junior midfielder Chloe Wiggins and sophomore defender Avy Lucero each had legitimate scoring chances. Wiggins lasered a corner kick into the goalie box, and Lucero roped a volley into traffic in the box from 30 yards out, but neither was able to connect with a teammate for a goal.
Still, Richmond kept the pressure on and it was rewarded just a couple minutes later. To set up the first goal of the night, Wiggins raced down the right sideline and sent a cross on net. Freshman forward Caroline Whitley contested Lady Pirate goalkeeper Bridget McGuire in the goalie box along with a defender, and Whitley’s pressure allowed the ball to bank off a Porter Ridge player for an own-goal at the 27:18 mark of the first half.
That would be the only goal for either team in the first half, and Richmond sophomore goalkeeper Allexis Swiney kept the green and gold ahead when she made an athletic punching save just two minutes after the first goal. Porter Ridge freshman Ella Joaquin sent a shot high and to Swiney’s left on frame, but the goalkeeper lunged to send the ball safely up and over the crossbar. Swiney also made a nice save a couple minutes later when she stepped up on a corner kick to catch the ball as it crossed the box.
Junior Kaiyah Sriratanakoul (2) and sophomore Emily Buie (16) chat during a stoppage in play Wednesday.
The Lady Raiders had several other first-half scoring opportunities before the buzzer sounded to end the first 40 minutes of play. Right around the 20-minute mark, junior Morgan Hooks, who finished the season tied with Wiggins for second on the team in goals with 12, sent a liner just to the right of McGuire.
Nine minutes later, Whitley was presented with another scoring opportunity as she raced into the box, but two Lady Pirates defenders pinched in on her to eliminate a clear angle to the net. Richmond’s last chance in the first half came with 2:30 to go, as Wiggins wheeled around defender to cut inside and kicked a shot that sailed just above McGuire and the crossbar.
In the closing minutes of the first half Porter Ridge freshman Beni Covert started to make her presence more visible. Though she wouldn’t net a goal before the break, she did threaten to score on a breakaway opportunity that sent Swiney back-pedaling to the net. Luckily for Richmond, her shot would rise over the crossbar and bank off the hillside behind the net.
Up by a goal to start the second stanza, Richmond and Wiggins kept their foot on the gas, and the junior scored her 12th goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0. On a rush, Wiggins weaseled her way through traffic into the goalie box, and headed a perfectly placed ball on an lob by Lucero into the box. The assist was Lucero’s second of the season, and the Lady Raiders looked primed for more with 38:26 to go in regulation.
But the game’s momentum would shift for good just five minutes later when Covert collected a ball 12 yards out from the net and sent a hard grounder past a sprawling Swiney to cut the deficit in half. Nine minutes later in the 57th minute, Porter Ridge’s Josie Brown made it a new ball game when she pooched in a kick that Howard said “looked to be in possession” by Swiney. With 24:14 left in the game, both teams had to reset and start over.
Unfortunately for the Lady Raiders, it was Covert who would strike again for the game-winning goal. In the 68th minute, Covert corralled the ball in the middle of the field and sped ahead on a breakaway opportunity. Swiney came out of the net to contest her opponent, but Covert chipped the ball up and over Swiney’s head as she tried to recover and regain her position in goal.
Richmond would make it interesting in the final 11 minutes of their season. Just a minute after Covert’s second goal, Lucero rocketed a free kick from 25 yards out that just sailed over the crossbar. In the final 70 seconds, senior Hanna Millen sent a shot toward the goal that was redirected by a Porter Ridge defender and glanced on frame but right into McGuire’s hands.
With the season-ending loss, Richmond finished with a 17-6 overall record. Those 17 wins were the most ever recorded in a single season in Lady Raiders’ history. Richmond tallied 72 goals in 23 games (3.13 goals per game), and finished tied for second place with Jack Britt High School with an 11-3 conference record in the inaugural season of the Sandhills Athletic Conference.
“I knew my career was going to come to and end at some time,” Howard noted when asked to reflect back. “The question is whether it’s better to lose at your house or on the road. I was hoping it would happen on the road two or three rounds deep (in the playoffs), but it came to an end here at Richmond.
“There’s been a lot of guys and girls who have played for me at Richmond,” Howard concluded. “We’ve had a lot of success and all of it is in their court, not mine. I was just there to guide them. I’m proud of everyone who came through here, and I’m proud of what this year’s team did, especially. Going 17-6 isn’t easy and they worked hard all year.”
Howard will retire from Richmond County Schools at the end of the school year. The ROSports department will publish a soccer season recap, as well as a look back on Howard’s career early next week.
