FAYETTEVILLE — A season-long winning streak continued for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team Monday.
Beginning Mid-South Conference play, the Raiders won their third straight match on the road at Pine Forest High School.
Doing all of its scoring in the first half, Richmond was able to hold on and defeat the Trojans 2-1.
Scoring for the Raiders were juniors Cole Lambeth and Cailin Moore, with Moore’s tally serving as the eventual game-winning goal.
“We were able to score in the first 10 minutes which helped set the tone for a strong first part of the first half,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We were able to capitalize again near the midway point to get a two-goal cushion.
“But then we kind of went cold and played keep away for the remainder of the half. We tried to refocus during halftime because I told the guys we were successful early on because of how well we controlled the pace and moved the ball around.
“We had a few chances to score in the second half, and even though that didn’t happen, we played well enough to hang on to the one-goal lead,” Larsen closed. “We were able to get our first conference win, which is always a good feeling. Hopefully we found our footing a little bit moving forward.”
Lambeth’s goal came in the game’s first 10 minutes on a back-post run. Flicking the ball to Lambeth was sophomore Allen Franco, which ended in a one-timer from Lambeth that beat the keeper to his left.
Taking advantage of a foul committed by Pine Forest (3-7-2, 0-1 MSC) around the 20th minute, Richmond scored on a set piece. Moore took the free kick and scored through a window created by senior Elen Fonseca on a run through the box.
Leading 2-0 at the half, Richmond allowed a goal in the first 30 seconds of the final 40 minutes. Larsen said a “bad touch” allowed a goal from the wing against junior goalkeeper Eric Legrand, who was otherwise perfect in net.
The Raiders (5-6-1, 1-0 MSC) have one more conference match this week. That game will be played Wednesday at home against Jack Britt High School (5-2-2, 0-0 MSC), starting at 7 p.m.
JV soccer team blanks Pine Forest
Also traveling to Pine Forest Monday to begin conference play, the Richmond JV boys’ soccer team earned a big win.
Using four goal scorers, the JV Raiders cruised to a 5-0 win.
Scoring twice was sophomore JaVeion Littlejohn. Sophomores Kerick Hairston Jr. and Drew McCaskill, along with freshman Mason Huff, each scored one goal.
Credited with one assist was freshman Kingston Gil.
“Everyone played tonight and that let us get into a rhythm,” head coach Jessi Weigman said. “It’s always a good thing to start conference with a win and they guys did a good job of playing a full match tonight.”
The JV Raiders (7-4, 1-0 MSC) welcome in Jack Britt Wednesday at 5:15 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Game information provided by head coaches Chris Larsen and Jessi Weigman.
