ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School girls’ soccer team suffered a shutout loss in its first game back from spring break on Tuesday.
Hosting second-place Union Pines High School, the fifth-place Lady Raiders lost 5-0.
The Lady Vikings scored two goals, one each from Taylor Leach and Gianna Silvestri, in the opening six minutes.
“We started off flat, which unfortunately is the hard part of coming back from break,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We gave up two goals on mistakes in the back, but we finally settled in and played good soccer for 60 or 65 minutes.
“We were able to hang with them and we had a few chances, but weren’t able to capitalize on them,” he added. “Hopefully this was enough to wake us up for our two remaining conference games.”
The Lady Raiders would hold onto a 2-0 deficit at halftime before surrendering three more goals in the game’s final 13 minutes.
Alexis Robbins, Brooke Going and Silvestri scored in the second half.
For Richmond, juniors Jennifer Gomez, Cheyenne Jacobs and Michala Nechvilova each recorded one shot on net in the loss.
“As we stand now, we’re sitting on the playoff bubble,” Larsen explained. “If we can play the way I know we can, we could solidify our spot with two more victories.
“We’ll have to see how that falls into place,” he closed. “All in all, we’re still making strides in the right direction, and we just need to get back to playing like we were a couple of weeks ago.”
The Lady Raiders (8-9-1, 3-6-1 SAC) will travel to Lee County High School (8-5-1, 4-4 SAC) on Friday, and close the regular season with senior night against Scotland next Tuesday.
JV Lady Raiders end season with a win
The Richmond junior varsity girls’ soccer team also hosted Union Pines on Tuesday, and beat the JV Lady Vikings 3-1.
Getting the regular-season finale started was freshman Hanna Smith, who sent a shot into the up left corner of the goal to give Richmond a 1-0 lead.
Adding to a 2-0 lead, which would carry until halftime, was sophomore Shiana Chaparro. She collected a ball in front of the net and beat the keeper.
Union Pines scored a goal to start the second half, but a tally from sophomore Evie Howell with 12 minutes to go sealed the win. Her shot deflected off the keeper’s hands and went into the net.
“I’m very proud of the girls this season, and we finished in a tie with Pinecrest at the top of the conference,” head coach Bennie Howard said.
“We had 15 freshmen and seven sophomores, and each girl improved and got better throughout the year. If they continue to work hard, many of them will help Chris at the varsity level.”
The JV Lady Raiders finished the season with a 7-2 overall record and a 5-1 mark against SAC opponents.
