SANFORD — Tying its single-match season-high in goals wasn’t enough to get the job done Monday for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team.
After drawing even in their last two matches, the Raiders dropped back into the loss column against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Lee County High School.
Richmond kept the game close at times but ultimately fell 7-3 to the Yellow Jackets.
“We had too many mistakes tonight,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We had too many giveaways in the back and couldn’t connect passes. The way we played our last two matches, we didn’t have that same energy tonight.
“I thought the guys played better in the opening 15 minutes of the second half,” he continued. “If we’d have played like that from the first whistle, I think it would’ve been a tighter ball game. We had spurts where we played really well.”
Lee County took a 2-0 lead before senior Landon Summerlin cut Richmond’s deficit in half. He scored on a penalty kick following a foul in the box committed on senior teammate Noah Gil.
Summerlin’s dart went low and into the net to the keeper’s right in the 32nd minute.
The Yellow Jackets (5-7, 2-2 SAC) managed to score twice more and take a 4-1 lead at halftime.
Out of the break, the Raiders once again cut the lead to one goal. In the 48th minute, senior foreign exchange student Gui Romero netted his first goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Gil made a breakaway by spinning around a defender and sent a laser into the net to make it 4-3 in the 52nd minute.
Lee County scored its final three insurance goals in the 54th, 61st and 78th minutes.
Richmond (1-9-2, 0-3-1 SAC) will host non-conference Southern Wayne High School (2-6) Thursday at 6 p.m.
JV Raiders blank Lee County
The Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team had a positive outcome in its match at Lee County Monday.
Using four goal scorers, the JV Raiders defeated the JV Yellow Jackets 5-0.
Taking a two-goal lead into halftime, Richmond used a pair of goals from freshman Allen Franco.
Netting tallies in the second half were freshmen Javeon Littlejohn, Bryan Mendoza and Martin Lopez.
The JV Raiders (6-4-2, 3-0-1 SAC) have off until next Monday when they host Scotland High School at 5:15 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Chris Larsen, Bennie Howard and Andy Summerlin contributed to this article.
