SANFORD — Starting the second round of Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Friday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ soccer team redeemed an earlier-season loss.
On the road at Southern Lee High School, the Lady Raiders used a goal early in the second half to earn a 2-1 win.
Evening the season series with the Lady Cavaliers, Richmond extended its season-long winning streak to three games.
Scoring one goal in each half, the Lady Raiders used tallies from junior Cheyenne Jacobs and senior Ellie Buck to hold off Southern Lee.
“The last time we played Southern Lee, we let up two goals on free kicks and two goals on PKs, and tonight the girls played a lot better,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “It was good to see Cheyenne and Ellie score and both executed nicely on the things we have been working on.
“We need to pick up as many wins as we can if we want to make the playoffs, and the girls are continuing to compete and battle. In the first go-around of conference, we weren’t clicking like we wanted to, and if we keep trending the way we are, we can surprise some other teams.”
Breaking a scoreless tie, Jacobs registered her sixth goal of the season in the 31st minute. On a counterattack, Richmond’s offense switched sides of the field and sophomore Allie Rodgers made a run.
Drawing two defenders toward her, Rodgers slid a pass to an unmarked Jacobs near the six-yard box. Collecting the pass, Jacobs scored and Rodgers was credited with the assist.
Southern Lee (4-5-1, 3-2 SAC) knotted the game at one goal in the 35th minute, a score that would hold until halftime.
Not wasting much time to score the game-winning goal, Buck notched her second goal of the campaign in the 47th minute.
Corralling a loose ball inside the box, Buck took a couple of touches and fired a shot toward the back post. The ball hit the inside of the left post and bounced into the net.
Larsen noted the team was down four players, including two of its starting defenders in seniors Paxlee Faircloth and Meghan McKenzie.
Stepping up to play a “strong game defensively” were juniors Rylie Bohman, Michala Nechvilova and Kalei Sriratanakoul, along with junior varsity call-up freshman Nevaeh Harris.
“We were down four players and Riley, Michala, Kalei and Nevaeh all played a full 80 minutes tonight,” Larsen said. “My hat is off to all four of them for holding it down and stepping up when their number was called.
“We decided to pull Nevaeh up, and for her to be a ninth grader and play a full game, she fit right in. That shows that Coach (Bennie) Howard had her ready to come up to the varsity level.”
Fifth-place Richmond (8-7, 3-4 SAC) will travel to first-place Pinecrest (7-3-2, 6-0 SAC) on Tuesday for another conference match. Varsity will start at 7 p.m.
Note: The Richmond junior varsity soccer team did not play on Friday.
