ROCKINGHAM – In a match that was never really close on the scoreboard or on the field, the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raiders soccer team rolled to its biggest win of the season Thursday, defeating Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Seventy-First High School 10-2.
Six different Lady Raiders scored goals in the rescheduled match from Wednesday, as juniors Jessi Graham and Morgan Hooks led the way with three goals each. It is both players’ first hat trick of the year, and Richmond’s third of the season (Hanna Millen had one against Hoke County last week).
Heckling Lady Falcons’ sophomore goalkeeper Ashlyn Burton with a barrage of shots, 38 to be exact, Richmond used its speed up front and commanding passing to get off to an explosive start. The Lady Raiders (7-2, 4-2 SAC) scored five goals in each half, and all of their first-half goals in the first 12 minutes of play.
“It was a good game tonight, and everybody got to play,” head coach Bennie Howard noted. “We had multiple opportunities to end the game early, but we couldn’t finish in certain aspects of the game. We needed this win – we had an explosion with goals which can help us (moving forward).”
Graham scored her first goal just 1:18 into the game, redirecting a cross from teammate Chloe Wiggins just inside the goalie box. Wiggins, whose crossing ability is among the team’s best, connected with Hooks exactly two minutes later on a nearly identical play to Graham’s goal to give Richmond a 2-0 lead.
In the 11th minute, Graham made a charge into the box, but Burton stopped her shot by making one of her 28 saves on the night. The ball bounced to Burton’s right, and Graham collected it and chipped it back in front of the net to Hooks, who tapped it past a sprawling Burton.
Wiggins would net the team’s fourth goal 46 seconds later on an offensive odd-man rush, ripping a shot from the top of the box which soared over Burton’s hands. Millen capped off the half’s scoring 28 seconds after Wiggins’ goal, as she found herself wide open in front of the net on yet another well-placed pass from Wiggins.
Howard used the fast start to open a revolving door of substitutions, giving his bench players more playing time than usual. Even though Richmond wouldn’t score in the remaining 28 minutes of the first half, it kept the winless Lady Falcons (0-8, 0-6 SAC) on their heels and limited their offensive zone opportunities.
To open the second half, Graham wasted no time to complete her hat trick and give the Lady Raiders a 7-0 lead. She scored her second goal in the 44th minute by elusively dribbling around a defender into the 18-yard box and sending a hard grounder just inside the left post. Her final goal of the night came 1:49 later when she booted the ball in from close range.
Howard also used the opportunity to have some players play different positons, one of whom was senior Kathleen Pittman, who is a staple on a solid Richmond defensive unit. Moved up front, Pittman had a handful of scoring chances, and finally connected in the 48th minute to put Richmond up 8-0.
Ironically, despite her close-range chances, Pittman’s first goal of the season came from outside the box when she ripped a shot from the left side of the field that directed itself through traffic and into the back of the net.
The only bright spot on the night for Seventy-First was junior striker Naya Thomas, who scored both of the Lady Falcons’ goals. Her first came just after Pittman’s in the 51st minute against third-string goalkeeper Abbey Coward (who had replaced backup goalkeeper Kelly Hoffman), making the game 8-1. Thomas’ second goal came 13 minutes later, a result of a Richmond defensive blunder that left her one-on-one with Coward.
Getting into the scoring mix was Richmond sophomore Maddisyn Diggs, as she earned her first career varsity goal in the 54th minute. Diggs settled a ball on an outlet pass and beat Burton to the goalie’s left side. Hooks capped off the night’s scoring with her third goal when she corralled a loose ball right in front of the net and placed it passed Burton on a rebound opportunity.
Not only were the 10 goals the most the Lady Raiders have scored in a single game this season (previously six against Hoke County), the eight-goal differential was also their largest margin of victory in 2018 (previously five goals in the same Hoke County game). Richmond has scored 31 goals in nine games (3.4 goals per game), which is third in the SAC.
Graham’s hat trick propelled her to the top of the team’s scoring list with six goals on the season. Millen’s goal marked her fifth on the year, and Hooks’ three-goal performance locked her in third with four goals. Eleven different Lady Raiders have netted at least one goal on the year, with six of those having three or more.
Richmond currently sits alone in third place in the SAC standings at 4-2, trailing second-place Jack Britt High School (5-1) by a game, and SAC-leader Pinecrest High School (6-0) by two games.
Howard’s team is back in action Monday, as they’ll travel to Scotland High School to face the Lady Fighting Scots (1-5-1, 1-4 SAC). Junior varsity will start at 5:15 p.m., followed by varsity at 7 p.m.
