ROCKINGHAM — Richmond Senior’s varsity soccer team picked up a 4-2 win at home Monday against the A.L. Brown Wonders in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 7A playoffs.
Prior to the start of the game, there was a moment of silence for late principal Joyce McRae, who passed away from cancer on Oct. 29. The Raiders players also donned pink wristbands in her honor.
Heading into the playoffs, both teams had a similar season record: Richmond at 11-9-3; and A.L. Brown at 11-11-2.
The Wonders were first on the board with two goals in the first half — both bouncing off the fingers of Richmond goalkeeper Eric Legrand.
“We didn’t play the best first half that I’ve seen us play,” Head coach Chris Larsen said. “But like I preached to the guys, if we could correct some things in the second half that we stood a shot … and they did that.
“I give all the credit to the guys …listening and doing what it took to come back.”
With less than 24 minutes to play in the second half, Richmond’s Patrick Smith was fouled and Allen Franco took the penalty kick, scoring the Raiders’ first goal.
Smith would score a goal of his own with less than five minutes on the clock to tie the game at 2-2.
With the game in overtime, Franco scored another goal in the first 10-minute period and Lalito Soriano found the back of the net a few minutes later.
Several members of the junior varsity team rushed the field to celebrate the win.
Larsen was emotional during the post-game speech, telling the team how proud he was for their victory.
“It became a team effort,” Larsen said. “Playing 100 minutes of soccer, you can’t do it with 11 guys … I’m just really proud of them for fighting back … I just really hope the guys enjoy it.”
Larsen said it’s “been a really long time” since the Raiders last hosted, much less won, a soccer playoff game. He recalled making it to the second round when he was a junior on the team in 2006.
Looking through records, Larsen said the last time Richmond hosted a playoff game was in 2016 — against A.L Brown.
“It’s a good win,” Larsen said. “This is what we work for … our conference didn’t go exactly the way we wanted, but we can still do what we need to do.”
The coach says he hopes the team will use the momentum to advance even farther in the playoffs.
“I know it’s going to be a tough, uphill climb — we’re going to have to play lights-out and mistake-free,” Larsen said. “But after two good performances, hopefully we can go and do that and see what happens.
The Raiders will travel to Mooresville on Wednesday to face No. 2 seed Lake Norman. The Wildcats won the North Piedmont 6A/7A Conference with a 10-0 record (16-3-2 overall) and are ranked 26th in the state.
The prevailing team will go on to face the winner between No. 23 seed Ballantyne Ridge and No. 7 seed Weddington.
The other two 7A teams in the Mid-South Conference lost their playoff games: Overhills fell 2-1 to Cape Fear; and Jack Britt lost 4-1 to Riverside-Durham.
See more photos from the game on the RO's Facebook page and at buzzer-beat.com.
NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a name. 4:40 p.m. 11-3-26.
