ROCKINGHAM — A driving rain made field conditions slick during Friday’s match, which resulted in the Lady Raiders soccer team’s first loss of the season.
Less than 24 hours after clinching the program’s best start through eight games in program history, Richmond was shut out for the first time this spring.
Returning to Sandhills Athletic Conference play, the Lady Raiders hosted Pinecrest High School, falling by a final score of 3-0.
An early miscue by the Lady Raiders resulted in a penalty kick goal in the third minute, putting the Lady Patriots ahead 1-0. Taking the kick was Anna Depenbrock.
In the 19th minute, Mia Martin redirected a shot from close range to make it a 2-0 lead, one that held until halftime.
Both teams spent much of the second half making offensive runs against each other, as sophomore goalkeeper Quanna Bostic made numerous saves to keep Richmond’s deficit at two goals.
Notching the final goal in the 70th minute was Jadyn Lamielle, who headed the ball into the net on a corner kick from the right side.
“We came out and gave up a goal way too early and that kind of put us behind the eight ball,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “There was a mistake in the back and they scored on the PK. But we kept fighting the whole game.
“We tried to make adjustments after halftime that worked until they scored their final goal,” he added. “I’m not disappointed in the loss, the girls played hard and did what we asked them to do. We just came out on the wrong side of it tonight and we’ll use it as a learning tool for next week.”
Richmond (7-1-1, 1-1 SAC) will host conference foe Hoke County High School (0-7-1, 0-2 SAC) on Tuesday, starting at 7 p.m.
JV Lady Raiders edged in second half
Returning to the pitch for the first time in nearly two weeks, the Richmond junior varsity girls’ soccer team lost 2-1 to Pinecrest on Friday.
Scoring for Richmond was freshman Ella Gibson. Pinecrest scored both of its goals in the second half.
“We had about eight good shots to their four shots,” head coach Bennie Howard said. “Hopefully we can get back even when we play Hoke on Tuesday.”
The JV Lady Raiders (1-2, 0-1 SAC) will begin play at 5:15 p.m. against the JV Lady Bucks.
