INDIAN TRAIL — Playing on the road for the first time this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team couldn’t find the back of the net Monday.
Facing Porter Ridge High School, the Raiders lost the non-conference match 3-0.
The Pirates scored a goal early in the first half and another in the final moments of the opening 40 minutes to take a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Porter Ridge’s final goal came midway through the second half.
Head coach Chris Larsen explained the Raiders showed flashes of playing quality soccer, but added the team needs to play more consistently throughout the match.
“We played pretty well in the first half,” Larsen said. “We just didn’t have enough possession or connecting passes. (Porter Ridge) was on our half of the field about 70% of the time and we didn’t have any attacking presence in the first half.
“I thought we looked better in the second half. We started connecting more passes and made some runs, but we couldn’t mount enough pressure on their back line to find the back of the net.
“It’s still early in the season and I encouraged the guys by telling them we’ll work through the growing pains,” Larsen closed. “We need to keep working hard at practice and carry over that consistency throughout the full 80 minutes of a game.”
Richmond (0-2) returns home to host non-conference Central Academy of Technology and Arts (0-1-1) Wednesday. The team will look for its first win of the season starting at 7 p.m.
JV Raiders suffer first loss
Also on the road at Porter Ridge Monday, the Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team suffered its first loss of the season.
Similar to the varsity match, the JV Raiders weren’t able to find the back of the net. The final score was 1-0 in favor of the JV Pirates.
Porter Ridge scored its goal in the first half, a second-chance opportunity after hitting the post.
Head coach Jessi Weigman noted the JV Raiders “played better in the second half.”
Now 1-1 to start the season, the JV Raiders will also host CATA Wednesday. The match is slated for a 5:15 p.m. start.
