ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Raider soccer team put up a good fight against Lee County High School on Monday, which is the current first-place team in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings.
Despite entering halftime tied at two goals, the Raiders surrendered three second-half scores to fall to the Yellow Jackets 5-2.
Richmond was down a couple of starters, but that didn’t stop the offense from producing in the closing minutes of the first half. Both of the Raiders’ tallies came in the last two minutes before the buzzer.
Senior forward Han Jalbasuren recorded his second goal of the fall in the 39th minute, collecting a loose ball inside the box. Fellow senior Justin McDougald blasted a shot off the left post, which bounced to Jalbasuren, who redirected it into a wide-open net.
Making his varsity debut, sophomore James Eason was responsible for the other goal, finding twine with 3.3 seconds left in the first half.
Jalbasuren made a cross from the left side into the six-yard box to Eason, who won possession against Alan Hernandez. Taking a touch, Eason blasted a shot low to the right side of the net past goalkeeper Ivan Lopez.
“I got a call 20 minutes before the game and got out here to try and help,” Eason said. “I’ve played with these guys before and Han made a nice cross into the box. I just went to the defender and got possession, putting the shot in the net.
“It feels good knowing that I can play at this level and work with the guys to score and help the team,” he added.
Sophomore James Eason (13) scores his first career varsity goal in the 40th minute. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Lee County scored the first two goals courtesy of Logan Jordan in the 5th and 16th minutes. Junior goalkeeper Ethan McDonald was put in the net following the second goal and blanked the Yellow Jackets (7-3-1, 3-0-1 SAC) the remainder of the first half.
Richmond had “several chances” to score in the opening 40 minutes, head coach Chris Larsen said afterward. McDougald and Eason both had shots near the midway point, and Jalbasuren came close to scoring inside the 18-yard box twice before netting his goal.
Larsen added that he was proud of the way the Raiders continued to battle throughout the match, especially finding a groove to knot the game before the intermission.
“The big difference was the guys stuck with what we practiced and they saw they could have a few opportunities early,” Larsen said. “We kept chipping away and found success in the last two minutes of the half.
“We played well, but we made the mistake of letting (Lee County) score the first two goals,” he continued. “Whoever capitalizes on the mistakes is who wins. The good thing is we were able to fight and keep it 2-2 at half, and we played well until we let in the second goal to go down by two.”
McDonald made a punch save in the 43rd minute on a shot by Irvin Gutierrez to keep the game knotted, and made an even bigger save in the 48th minute on a penalty kick. Richmond was called for a foul inside the box, allowing Jordan to take the PK.
On the kick, McDonald dove to his left and batted down the shot before the defense cleared it out of the zone.
“I’ve learned from previous PKs to look the kicker dead in the eyes and when they start their run up, they’ll look left or right,” McDonald explained. “The kid looked right so I just thought I’d go to my left and sure enough I was able to make the save.
“I had a lot of adrenaline in that moment and that was a huge save at the time,” he continued. “That boosted me up and helped the team realize we still had a chance to compete with a team that’s at the top of the conference.”
Three minutes later, however, Richmond was called for another foul in the box. Both Larsen and McDonald said they thought the call wasn’t necessary, but that allowed Gutierrez to take a PK and score the game-winner.
McDonald made a good attempt to stop the shot, but Gutierrez snuck the ball inside the left post in the 51st minute.
Lee County added goals in the 70th (Thomas Perry) and 71st minutes (Jordan) to secure the win.
Senior Han Jalbasuren (17) celebrates his goal with teammate Alex Medina (6) in Monday’s match. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
“I didn’t necessarily agree with the call on the second PK,” Larsen said. “But I was encouraged to see our guys play as a unit. Whenever the guys play the way I ask them to, that’s when we have success.
“Inevitably, we’re going to make mistakes, but it’s how we adjust and adapt to them that defines us,” he closed. “We’re not completely out of it yet, and hopefully tonight gave the guys some confidence as we get ready to make the flip into the second round of conference play.”
The Raiders (3-7, 1-4 SAC) will take a break from conference play and travel to non-conference Porter Ridge High School (6-1-1) on Wednesday. The game will start at 6:30 p.m.
