ROCKINGHAM — The opening 55 minutes of the Richmond Raiders’ soccer match against Lumberton High School on Wednesday followed the same narrative as the first game the two Sandhills Athletic Conference foes played last month.
Fortunately this time for the Raiders and head coach Chris Larsen, they were able to seal the deal with two unanswered goals in the closing 25 minutes to earn a 4-2 victory, extending their season-high three-game winning streak.
When Richmond traveled to the Pirates’ pitch on Feb 8., the Raiders conceded three leads that led to an overtime draw.
Richmond gave up a one-goal lead twice on Monday, but thanks to two goals from junior Alex Medina, and solo tallies from senior Noah Aiken and junior Luke Williams, Richmond moved into sole possession of third place in the SAC standings.
“After the last time we played them, it showed us we have to play however many minutes are on the clock,” Larsen said. “That helped us tonight and it turned out almost the exact same way. But we were able to get one more goal before (Lumberton) had the opportunity to tie it up, and that gave us a cushion the last 10 minutes.
“The guys played their rear ends off, played a great game and did what I asked them to do,” he added. “And we were rewarded with a victory over a very good team.”
With the win, Richmond (7-3-1) moved a half game ahead of Lumberton (6-3-2) in the conference standings.
Senior goalkeeper Jay Ammons made six quality saves for the Raiders. In the opening 12 minutes, Ammons stopped a shot by Alexis Lopez and caught a shot from Angel Robles on a one-on-one rush.
Jay Ammons makes a save in the second half of Wednesday’s SAC contest against Lumberton.
Medina, who tallied his sixth and seventh goals of the year, started the scoring in the 24th minute. He took a pass from junior Pedro Molina, who earned his first assist, and rifled a shot from 30 yards that sailed high to the back post past junior goalkeeper Jackson Davis.
After near misses from Medina (32nd minute) and freshman Jesus Castro (34th minute), Jair Santos knotted the game with a tapper in the box in the 37th minute. The Raiders failed to clear the ball twice and Santos wedged a shot past Ammons.
But a defensive miscue by the Pirates 41 seconds later allowed Aiken to score his sixth goal of the season in the 38th minute.
Lumberton made a weak clear attempt that found Aiken in space near the top of the 18-yard box, and with Davis several yards off his line, Aiken chipped the ball up and over the keeper to put Richmond up 2-1.
The Pirates would tie the game again in the 45th minute to start the second half, using a deflected ball on a Raider clear attempt.
Medina didn’t wait long to put the Raiders ahead for good, sending a grounder past Davis in the 55th minute. Senior Hector Castro, who was credited with his third assist of the season, brought the ball in deep along the right side and sent a pass to Medina in the middle of the box, who kicked it just inside the right post.
“I like shooting from a far distance and trying to find corners,” Medina explained. “I always see if I can get it over the keeper and Pedro gave me a great ball on the first goal.
“It felt good to get the second goal, but more importantly, I knew how important this game was for our team,” he added. “I did everything in my power to help the team succeed tonight.”
Two more big-time saves from Ammons on back-to-back corner kicks in the 64th and 65th minutes kept the Raiders ahead, and it was Williams’ goal in the 72nd minute that iced the victory.
Following a foul, senior Bradford Pittman sent the free kick to Medina, who threaded a pass in traffic to Williams. Finding the ball from inside 10 yards, Williams redirected a low shot to the far post for his team-leading 10th goal of the season. With his helper, Medina increased his assist total to a team-best seven.
Williams noted that a little superstition the team has had the last few games has been playing music during warmups, and he said the Raiders have played a lot better.
“This was a very important win and we still have a good shot at the playoffs,” Williams said. “We felt like we should have won the first game, so we came in with high intensity and we played our hardest.
“I was looking at Alex the whole time and I knew he was going to play me a perfect ball over the top,” he explained of his goal. “I just took a touch and was able to finish.”
Junior center back Keaton Sweatt prepares to clear the ball during Wednesday’s win.
Larsen said that the influx of scoring over the last couple of games has helped with the winning streak, but part of Wednesday’s win was credited to the Raiders’ defense and how it adapted to Lumberton’s counter attacks.
“Our defenders did a good job shifting over,” Larsen explained. “Lumberton was playing two traditional high forwards and making late back post runs, and our guys in the middle were shifting over and the outside mids were filling the holes.
“We followed our marks pretty well and that shifting movement helped keep our shape tight,” he continued. “That limited the amount of through balls Lumberton had, and we didn’t make any silly mistakes.”
Additionally, junior Keaton Sweatt played center back for the entirety of the game, filling in for injured Abrahm Padron. Larsen said his efforts, along with Ammons’ work in net, cemented the win.
“Abrahm has been nursing an injury and Keaton played a good, full 80 minutes tonight,” Larsen said. “You never know when your number is going to be called and he was ready to go.
“Jay stopped some shots from distance and caught the ball well on a cold, damp night,” he added. “Being able to corral the ball kept Lumberton at bay and didn’t give them second-chance opportunities. That was a big difference tonight.”
The Raiders have a busy week next week with three home games to close out the regular season. Richmond will host Seventy-First (0-10) on Monday for senior night, followed by Scotland (3-6-1) and Pinecrest (9-0).
JV Raiders shut out JV Pirates
The Richmond junior varsity soccer team also defeated Lumberton on Wednesday, shutting out the Pirates 4-0.
With less than 10 seconds to go in the first half, freshman David Grant scored his first goal of the season on an assist from fellow freshman James Eason off a corner kick.
Eason tallied his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 39th minute, finding the far post from the left side of the box. He scooped up a loose ball in the box and found open space around the defender.
Freshman Samuel Hawks extended the JV Raiders’ lead in the 59th minute. After getting possession of the ball, Hawks made a turning shot from 15 yards, which skipped past the keeper for his first goal of the winter.
With the clock winding, sophomore Jullian Cline capitalized on a penalty kick to join the scoring parade. After being tripped in the box, Cline used his right foot to go low and to his left to notch the team’s final goal with 37 seconds left in regulation.
“I was really happy with tonight’s win,” head coach Tad Hamilton said. “Watching the first half, I knew Lumberton was a decent squad with speed and skill. I wasn’t expecting a 4-0 win.
“We played really well, and David’s goal gave us some confidence going into the second half,” he added. “It brought some energy to the team.”
The JV Raiders are now 6-2 on the year and will return to play Scotland High School next week.
