ROCKINGHAM – There have been five programs at Richmond Senior High School to usher in new head coaches this summer, and the one to replace the longest tenured coach out of any of them is the Raiders soccer program.
Announced in June, Chris Larsen was named the boys and girls head soccer coach after former coach Bennie Howard entered retirement. With the new change in the head coaching role comes a new season, and new expectations from Larsen for his 21 varsity players.
Last season, with Larsen acting as the junior varsity head coach and a varsity assistant, the Raiders went 11-9-1, despite having a hot start by winning four of their first five games. Going 7-6-1 in the inaugural season of the Sandhills Athletic Conference, it was Richmond’s lowest overall win total since 2013 (won eight games), and its fifth-place finish in the conference standings was the worst in that same time span.
Now a year later, with 13 seniors graduated from the team, including leading goal scorer Victor Lucero (15), it gives Larsen a fresh mix of rising seniors and underclassmen a chance to regain conference championship glory like it did in 2016 when the Raiders went 15-3-1, and 9-0-1 in conference play. A simply put — that’s what Larsen wants to achieve in his first year at the helm.
“I’d love to compete and win the conference — that’s our No. 1 goal this season,” Larsen said Tuesday. “And on top of that, it’d be great to turn around and win the conference tournament. Our goal from day one is to play together as a unit, win the conference, and then refocus for the playoffs.
“We kind of lost our focus last year, and I think if we play together as a team for the whole season, we can really put together a nice record.”
After losing to Pinecrest High School in last year’s SAC tournament, the Raiders missed making the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s playoffs. But it’s something Larsen hopes to end and he wants to see his team become annual contenders.
“If we take care of the first few things on our list, we’ll get a first round bye in the playoffs,” he noted. “We ultimately want to be a contender in second round (playoff) matchups, and work ourselves into the third through fifth rounds. But right now, we can’t look past the first game on the schedule.”
Coming back this fall are eight rising seniors, all of whom had playing time last year, save for one. Among them is Evan Hudson, the lone returning All-SAC selection from 2017 (the other was now graduated senior Patrick Hamilton). Joining Hudson are Carlos Alcocer, Nolan Allen, Evyn Brower, Jose Fonseca, Kyle Goodwin and Jackson Haley. Alexis Gonzalez, the final senior, is new to the team this year.
The Raiders are a junior-heavy squad with 12 juniors making the cut. Returning underclassmen from a year ago are Noah Jordan, Steven Morales and Joey Nicholson. Making the jump from the junior varsity team are Evan Baxley, Drew Davis, Cole Deane, Luke Hawks, Lee Hayden, Justyn and Kevyn Leviner, Chandler Sinclair and Blaise Steadman. The only sophomore on the team is goalkeeper Kaden Walker.
“Position wise, if we play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, we have the opportunity to win a lot of games this year,” Larsen said. “I want to guys to learn to be comfortable in more than one position, which will allow me to move them around as needed. We have some guys like Carlos, Jose, Noah and Evyn who have speed and can attack the net — those guys should step into their new roles.
“There are also a lot of guys coming up from junior varsity who can score, like Cole and Luke,” Larsen continued. “I also envision guys like Lee, Evan, Chandler, Jose and Noah locking down the middle of the field, which is an area of our game we’ve struggled with the last couple of years.”
Larsen went on to add that he has a “slew of outside midfielders and defenders” who he hopes will make deep runs and protect Haley in front of the net. He’ll look to Allen, Baxley, Davis, Goodwin and the Leviner twins to make it happen.
Part of the process in taking over the program after six years of working under Howard is Larsen’s “tweaking” of several areas to fit his style of coaching. So far, his players have been receptive of the changes.
“This year, I’m changing up formation slightly, and it’ll be nice to put in a few small tweaks,” Larsen commented. “As a coach, you’re always trying to adapt to the change in style of play, and the kids are excited because it’s slightly different than what they’re used to.
“It’s good to stress different aspects to game,” he added. “We’ll be doing a lot of the same concepts, it’s just more of putting the finishing touches on things.”
In terms of the system he hopes to run, Larsen has been working with his players the past couple of weeks on a 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 scheme. He noted that they’re both “a variation” of what he wants to do, and both systems will “help us control the game more, and not play kick and run.” The basis of both schemes is to “be solid in fundamentals and dominate middle of the field,” which Larsen believes can transpire to the team having success.
“Our confidence level is about what it should be looking at guys who are returning and stepping up,” Larsen said. “I expect us to be competitive in our non-conference and conference games, and we have a really tough schedule again this year.
“But we should come out on top in the majority of our games,” he continued. “It’s good to see a lot of the guys buying into the small changes, which brings excitement to the team. In practice, they’re making good touches, listening and learning and applying the drills to the semi-live action we’ve had. We’re definitely trending in the right direction for our scrimmages Friday and Saturday.”
The Raiders have two preseason scrimmages scheduled ahead of their season opener. They’ll head to reigning SAC winner Pinecrest on Friday for a scrimmage at 10 a.m., and follow up with a jamboree at Hoke County High School on Saturday. In Raeford, Richmond will face off against Red Springs High School at 9 a.m., followed by a second scrimmage against the host Bucks squad at 10:40 a.m.
Richmond will begin its quest to leapfrog itself back into the top tier of the SAC standings with a three-game non-conference week starting Monday, Aug. 20, at Central Academy of Technology and Arts at 6:30 p.m. Then the Raiders will host Porter Ridge High School (Wednesday, Aug. 22, 6:30 p.m.) and Pine Forest High School (Thursday, Aug. 23, 6 p.m.)
“Every night is a different night, and with soccer you never know what you’re going to get,” Larsen concluded. “It’s been an exciting summer to watch the World Cup, and I’d like to see people come out and support the local guys and the local team. My hope is to build the program to where we have quality soccer being played from elementary school to the high school ranks.”
