ROCKINGHAM — Five goal scorers, including four seniors, found the back of the net during Monday’s senior night celebration for the Lady Raider soccer team.
Inching closer to the end of the regular season, Richmond shut out Southern Lee High School 6-0 in the teams’ first Sandhills Athletic Conference meeting this spring.
Prior to the game, head coach Chris Larsen and assistant coach Bennie Howard recognized the team’s eight senior players this season.
Those players were Rebeca Avalos, Rylie Bohman, Jennifer Gomez, Sheccid Heaton, C’Nedra Hinson, Cheyenne Jacobs, Kalei Sriratanakoul and Tatum Rhyne.
Also recognized was senior foreign exchange student Fanny Radermecker, who served as the team’s manager. She also sang the National Anthem.
Richmond set the tempo early, scoring its first three goals before the half.
Rhyne got the start in net for the Lady Raiders, playing the entire first and closing out the final 15 minutes of the second half. She made four saves in the opening 40 minutes.
Sophomore keeper Quanna Bostic contributed to the shutout.
In the ninth minute, Jacobs gave the Lady Raiders a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal from inside the box. She sent a low shot inside the left post for her seventh goal of the spring.
A minute later, Gomez scored the first of her game-high two goals to extend the lead. Hinson, credited with the assist, made a pass to Gomez at the top of the box.
Taking a touch, Gomez blasted the ball just under the crossbar to make it 2-0 in the 10th minute.
With the clock winding before the half, Gomez struck again in the 39th minute. Unassisted, she slotted a shot from 15 yards for a three-goal cushion, her fourth goal of the year.
The Lady Raiders registered 22 shots during the win, many of them peppering the goal throughout the second half.
Sophomore Mariana Mendoza made it 4-0 in the 64th minute. Collecting her own rebound after a save, Mendoza redirected a close-range shot into the goal for her second tally of the spring.
Richmond tacked on two more goals in a two-minute span with less than five minutes left in regulation.
Bohman, who plays center back, moved up to striker and was rewarded. Corralling a cross from Jacobs (assist), Bohman scored her first goal by tapping the ball inside the far post in the 76th minute.
Heaton, who matched Gomez with a team-high five shots, punched in the final goal of the game in the 78th minute. Similar to Mendoza’s goal, Heaton got a second-chance opportunity to score her third goal this season.
The fourth-place Lady Raiders (11-7-1, 5-6 SAC) will close its regular season on Thursday at Scotland High School (3-9-1, 2-8 SAC), which is in sixth place. Play will start at 6 p.m.
Click here to view a photo gallery of Monday’s senior night.
