CHARLOTTE – Heading into Friday’s opening-round playoff match against No. 10 Ardrey Kell High School, the No. 23 Richmond Senior High School varsity soccer team knew it would have to play a perfect 80 minutes to advance.
The Raiders played nearly a perfect game, but save for a couple of mistakes, Richmond fell to the Knights by a final score of 4-0. With the quiet first-round exit in the NCHSAA 4A playoffs, Richmond fell to 0-5 in postseason games since 2010. The last time the Raiders made the playoffs was in 2016 as a No. 2 seed, and were upset in that game by the same score to No. 15 A.L. Brown High School.
Richmond (12-11) snuck into this year’s playoffs as one of the last teams in the West Bracket, as its tough schedule and tie for second place with Hoke County High School in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings was enough to get through the threshold. Despite coming up short Friday, first-year head coach Chris Larsen still viewed his inaugural season as a success.
“I hate the season had to come to a close tonight, but sometimes that’s the way it goes,” Larsen said following the loss. “To finish above .500, come in a tie for second place and make the state playoffs, I couldn’t ask for much more from the guys. I’ll definitely take it as a success.”
Jeff Smith’s Knights (16-5-1) used four different goal scorers, and three second-half goals, on the night to get by the Raiders, but it could have been a lot more if it wasn’t for the outstanding play by senior goalkeeper Jackson Haley and his wall of defenders comprised of seniors Nolan Allen and Evan Hudson, and juniors Drew Davis and Lee Hayden.
Ardrey Kell opened the game by maintaining possession deep in Richmond’s zone for much of the first 15 minutes, but one of the Raiders’ best scoring chances came in the fourth minute. Senior Carlos Alcocer made a run down the right sideline and sent a cross into the box to a waiting Noah Jordan, and the junior midfielder chipped the ball with his left foot just wide of the mark and Knights’ goalkeeper Jack Fuller.
Haley made his first of roughly a dozen saves on the night just three minutes later when he stepped up and made a stop on a shot by Teddy Ilieve. The Knights got lucky on a Richmond miscue in the 15th minute, which led to their first goal of the game.
Hayden corralled a bouncing ball inside his own 18-yard box and played it back to Haley, who appeared to boot it out of danger. Unfortunately, Ardrey Kell junior midfielder Juan Ramirez intercepted the ball at the top of the box and sent a shot off the right post over Haley’s left shoulder. The ball ricocheted into the net with 25:59 remaining in the first half and would prove the only goal in the opening 40 minutes.
“We knew it was going to be a fight all night long and the guys just made one mistake in the first half,” Larsen said of Ramirez’s goal. “I thought when we played it back to Jackson, we’d be able to absorb it, but (Ramirez) was able to collect it and take a shot. Jackson did a heck of a job cutting off the angle, and we just got unlucky when it spun into the net.”
Haley made two more clutch saves to close out the half, the first one coming in the 22nd minute when he charged Shane Riehl inside of his own box. Making the initial save on the one-on-one rush, Haley collected himself and rushed back into the net and made a follow-up save on a weak dribbler by Anders Wilson.
The second clutch save saw Haley get a little help from the crossbar in the final minute, as he made a diving backward save on another Riehl shot. Haley got a fist on the ball and punched it into the crossbar, which in turn sailed up and over the twine. The textbook save kept Richmond’s deficit at one heading into halftime.
“I was pleased with how the guys stayed within striking distance the entire first half,” Larsen noted. “We had some scoring opportunities in both halves, but it’s a different caliber of soccer (in Charlotte). And we battled against a really good soccer team tonight.
“Our defense and goalkeeping has been what’s kept us in games this year,” he continued. “They did a great job keeping Ardrey Kell out of the goal as much as they did tonight. Jackson had some timely saves that kept the momentum going for us.”
In the second half, the Raider defense continued to impress, as a tremendous tandem effort by Haley and Hudson in the 48th minute saw Haley make a sliding foot-first save on another one-on-one situation. On the play, Hudson dropped back into the net and made a block with his body on a rebound shot, and Haley finished the sequence with a save on the turf to end the threat.
But a three-minute stretch in the middle of the second half was what ultimately sealed the deal for the Knights, as goals by Damon Kooser and Alex Pratt made it 3-0. In the 60th minute, Kooser charged down the right sideline and laced a tight-angled shot past Haley inside the far post. Pratt’s goal game just three minutes later in the 63rd minute, as he played a through ball from Ramirez in the middle of the box, catching the backside of the open net.
The last bit of the night’s action came in the form of a yellow card for Ardrey Kell’s Derek Royster in the 70th minute when he pushed Hudson down from behind. Under a minute later, Riehl added the final tally on a low shot from 10 yards out.
“We just couldn’t adjust to their speed and the speed of the turf,” Larsen said of the stadium’s artificial surface. “The ball bounced a lot more than we’re used to, and it’s comparable to putting a golf ball on a hardwood floor. The turf speeds the game up so much, and Ardrey Kell was fast, so we took longer than we wanted to tonight to make those adjustments.
“I told our seniors after the game that I appreciate everything they did for us this season,” Larsen closed about his eight senior players who played their final game wearing the Richmond crest. “It was a great group of guys to come in and have my first season with. I coached many of them on junior varsity, but it’s different at the varsity level. They were all leaders this year and I’m glad to see them go out as a success.”
The Knights will play No.7 South Caldwell High School in the second round, as the Spartans had a first-round bye. ROSports will publish a season recap on the Raiders next week.
