ROCKINGHAM — Starting a two-match week on its home pitch Tuesday, the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity girls’ soccer team was held scoreless.
Hosting Overhills High School for a Mid-South Conference contest, the JV Lady Raiders lost 2-0.
Overhills led 1-0 at halftime and scored its second goal in the final 35 minutes.
“I don’t think we played badly, but we can’t win games when we don’t score,” head coach Bennie Howard said. “We couldn’t keep up with their speed on the two goals, but my hat is off to Hayden (Chappell) for making several saves in goal.
“We struggled with our trapping tonight and we didn’t hit our targets effectively,” he added. “We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities to score.”
Both teams had chances to score in the first half and it was sophomore goalkeeper Hayden Chappell who kept Richmond in it early.
Chappell made a 1v1 save in the fourth minute, which was cleared by the defense.
Freshman Molly Covington and freshman Anajiah Pore had looks on frame in the 6th and 15th minutes, respectively. Covington had a corner kick saved and Pore was loose in front of the net, but her shot was right at the keeper.
Chappell made two more quality saves in the first half, starting with a charge and a clear with her foot on another 1v1 chance. She stood tall in the 26th minute when she stuck a leg out to deflect a close-range shot wide of the net.
Between those saves, sophomore Fallon Covey and Pore each had a shot. Covey’s blast from distance was saved and Pore sent a shot inside of 10 yards just right of the near post.
Overhills’ speed paid off in the 29th minute when a 1v1 burst into the box resulted in a low shot past Chappell to make it 1-0.
Richmond controlled the offensive tempo for the opening 20 minutes of the second half, getting a couple more chances on goal.
Covington and sophomore Matti Wallace each sent a blast just left of the mark in the first three minutes.
Pore knocked a shot off the right post in the 52nd minute that trailed out of bounds. Chappell managed to keep it a one-deficit match when she made another stop on a rush into the box.
The JV Lady Raiders had a goal by freshman Sophia Legrand waved off in the 57th minute due to an offsides call. The team’s last quality look on goal was a free kick by freshman Kallie Hamby, which sailed just over the crossbar with 11 minutes to play.
Overhills’ second goal was scored less than a minute later, similar to the first on a close-range opportunity created by speed and space.
The JV Lady Raiders (5-3, 2-2 MSC) have one more match scheduled ahead of spring break. They’ll travel to Pinecrest High School Thursday for a conference match at 5 p.m.
