LUMBERTON – Two and a half weeks ago, Richmond Senior High School varsity head soccer coach Chris Larsen gave his players a challenge — to finish out the regular season with a perfect 7-0 record.
In that span, the Raiders have rang true to their coach’s request, as Wednesday’s road game at Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Lumberton High School resulted in the team’s fifth-straight win. The five wins have propelled Richmond (11-8, 9-4 SAC) from flirting with a bottom-half finish to a solid third-place seeding in the conference standings.
The final from Lumberton was 3-1 in favor of the Raiders, as they used two first-half goals and an insurance goal late to sink the fifth-place Pirates (10-11-2, 7-7-1 SAC). Goal scorers on the night for Richmond were junior Luke Hawks and seniors Alexis Gonzalez and Carlos Alcocer.
The three goals scored by the Raiders was the second lowest total goals in a game during the five-game winning stretch, but it was more than enough to escape a fiesty Lumberton squad.
“We knocked the ball around really well in first half,” Larsen commented after the crucial win. “It was a physical game, but we’ve come to expect that when we play a quality team like Lumberton. I told the guys going into the game it was going to be a battle, and it was a heck of a performance by Lumberton.”
Hawks, who is tied for the team lead with Alcocer with nine goals, got the Raiders on the board in the seventh minute, as he collected a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and ripped it into the back of the net with his right foot. Gonzalez, who is second on the team with eight goals, mirrored Hawks’ effort in the 28th minute, scoring from about the same area of the field.
Up 2-0 at halftime, Larsen’s team had its only hiccup of the night in the opening five minutes of the second half. The Pirates would score their lone goal to cut the deficit in half, as senior goalkeeper Jackson Haley “made a good diving effort” but saw the ball scoot past him.
Things turned in favor of Lumberton with 17 minutes left in regulation, as Richmond senior midfielder Kyle Goodwin picked up his second yellow card of the match. With it, Goodwin was disqualified for the rest of the night, and it forced the Raiders to play a man down. After playing 11 minutes with just 10 players on the field, Alcocer silenced the crowd as he added the final tally in the 74th minute, a hard shot that deflected off the keeper’s hands.
“We knew we were in for a dog fight after they scored the goal and we had to play a man down,” Larsen explained. “It’s a tough place to play, but the guys kept knocking the ball and had some good opportunities. I was also able to get a lot of subs in to try and keep our legs fresh.
“The guys have put forth the needed effort and focused in over the last five games,” he concluded. “They know their aspirations for making the playoffs depends on final couple of games, and with no conference tournament, that nullifies the extra effort. We’re taking it game by game, and trying to finish strong — but we don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ve worked hard in practice and have capitalized in games. As a team, we haven’t reached our goal yet, and have two games left to see if we can win out.”
The Raiders will complete this week’s play Thursday at home against last-place Scotland High School. The varsity game is set for 5:15 p.m.
