SANFORD — An early lead didn’t hold up for the Richmond Senior High School girls’ soccer team on the road Friday.
Returning to the pitch for the second time this week, the Lady Raiders fell to Lee County High School 3-1 in a Sandhills Athletic Conference match.
Richmond took an early lead in the opening 10 minutes, but surrendered three unanswered goals to the Lady Yellow Jackets (10-5-1, 5-4 SAC).
Lee County scored one goal in the first half and two goals in the final 40 minutes.
The Lady Raiders brought a strong offensive attack early in the match, and junior C’Nedra Hinson scored the team’s lone goal in the 9th minute.
Senior midfielder Destiny Barrick started a run on a counterattack and sent a pass to Hinson down the left side of the field. Working around a defender, Hinson shot from 10 yards and found the back of the net along the far post.
It was Hinson’s third goal of the spring and Barrick was credited with the assist.
Tying the game in the 18th minute was Amerie Ussery, who knocked in a loose ball following a corner kick.
Both teams would go into the halftime break tied at one goal apiece.
Lee County scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 42nd minute, a shot from Lila Moshfegh that deflected off a defender and into the net.
Adding an insurance goal in the final minutes was Alyssa Martin, although Richmond head coach Chris Larsen thought the play should have been whistled for a handball in the box.
“We came out and played a pretty good first half, but we had two mistakes that cost us,” Larsen said. “We had a few chances to score, a few free kicks outside of the box, Jamyia (Lindsey) and Michala (Nechvilova) had chances.
“We just couldn’t capitalize and I think we took one too many touches before shooting the ball,” he added. “We played well up until that last questionable handball in the box, but I told the girls we can’t go back and change it. Al we can do is come back next week and see how it goes in the conference tournament.”
The Lady Raiders (8-10-1, 3-7-1 SAC) will get a week off before concluding regular-season play against rival Scotland High School (3-11-2, 0-8-1 SAC) at home next Friday.
The team’s six seniors will be honored on senior night, with play set to begin at 7 p.m.
