ROCKINGHAM — The final tune-up of the preseason took place for the Richmond Senior High School girls soccer team Wednesday.
On their home pitch, the Lady Raiders hosted a jamboree with Cape Fear and Terry Sanford high schools.
Fresh off of scrimmaging three other schools over the weekend, Richmond played a pair of 40-minute games with a short break at the halfway point.
The Lady Raiders fell 1-0 to Cape Fear and followed with a 3-2 loss to Terry Sanford.
Scoring in the second scrimmage were junior forward Ashly Gonzalez and freshman Mariana Gonzalez. Both goals put Richmond ahead at the time and senior Allie Rodgers was credited with an assist on the first tally.
“Tonight was an improvement from Saturday,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “The girls listened and took in what we talked about and corrected mistakes from the weekend. We are using these scrimmages to evaluate people in different positions and to see where we are.
“We are getting close to being game ready,” he added. “It’s a promising thing knowing that we’re getting better ahead of our first couple of games. Even though we’re young, we’re still growing.”
Larsen noted that it “was good to see” Rodgers’ cross to Ashly Gonzalez, the first preseason goal to connect between two players.
Junior goalkeeper Quanna Bostic played the entire first scrimmage and the first half of the second scrimmage. Backup keeper Bree Rape played the final 20 minutes and Larsen said both keepers “made some good saves to keep the score close.”
The Lady Raiders will start their season Tuesday at non-conference Jack Britt High School, beginning at 7 p.m.
Below are photos of the first half of Wednesday’s scrimmage against Cape Fear taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.
