ROCKINGHAM - The wait may have been a little longer than he wanted it to be, but first-year Richmond Senior High School head soccer coach Chris Larsen earned his first career victory on his home pitch Thursday.
Playing their third game of the young season, the Raiders hosted non-conference opponent Forest Hills High School in what proved to be the breakout game Larsen and company knew was coming.
Richmond put four goals on the board by four different players, both season-highs, as they stung the Yellow Jackets 4-1 in convincing fashion.
After starting the season with two non-conference losses to Central Academy of Technology and Arts and Porter Ridge High School, which only saw one combined goal, the Raiders (1-2) found the scoring stroke it was so close to achieving.
Richmond netted three goals in the opening half, before tacking on an insurance goal in the final 15 minutes of play.
“It’s nice to finally be in the win column,” Larsen grinned following the win. “I knew that it was going to be difficult to be 3-0 after this week, but I think the guys have bought into what we’re trying to do. And tonight was the reward -- we came in hot from having a good game last night (against Porter Ridge).”
The Raiders didn’t waste any time getting on the board in front of a large home crowd, as Larsen has emphasized the importance of scoring goals in the early going to set the tempo. Junior midfielder Chandler Sinclair capitalized for his first goal of the season when Richmond was able to win the ball at midfield.
Using an offensive rush, several Raiders made runs toward the net, and it was Sinclair who “toe-tapped” the inbound pass into the net past Yellow Jacket goalkeeper Alejandro Rosas-Salas in the 16th minute. Larsen said he was impressed with Sinclair’s ability to “beat the guy he had on his hip” to get his first career varsity goal.
Nearing the end of the first half and maintaining a 1-0 lead, it would be senior forward Evyn Brower who would score the eventual game-winning goal with his second tally of the year. With just over 12 minutes to go before the half, Rosas-Salas collected the ball and attempted to clear it out of his own zone.
But Brower “had the intelligence to turn around and knock it down with his chest” to one-time it in the back of the net from just inside the 18-yard box.
Minutes later, following a Forest Hills foul, senior forward Carlos Alcocer “made a quick restart” on the ball to catch the Yellow Jacket defense on its heels from 25 yards out. Alcocer played the ball forward to junior midfielder Lee Hayden, who made a couple of touches into the 18-yard box before blasting the ball into the twine. It was his first goal of the year, as well as Alcocer’s first assist.
“The guys really kept their foot on the gas in the first half,” Larsen noted. “When we jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first half, to be completely honest, the guys kind of sat back and enjoyed the second half. We may have laid off a little bit, but for as hard as they’ve fought this week, I can’t fault them for that. They had a good time, which is what it’s about.”
Head coach Chris Larsen addresses his team following his first career win Thursday.
Out of the break, Richmond had a couple of more opportunities to blanket the Yellow Jackets (0-6). With just under 25 minutes to go in regulation, senior forward Jose Fonseca launched a penalty kick following a foul in the box on frame, but Rosas-Salas made a diving save to his left, thwarting Fonseca of his first goal.
The Raiders added an insurance goal in the 66th minute when junior Luke Hawks punched in his first goal of the year. On the rush, Hawks took possession and was met by Rosas-Salas, who made a slide on the ball to stunt Hawks’ momentum. However, the keeper couldn’t maintain possession long enough before Hawks regrouped, and he deked his way around his opponent and laced a shot into a wide open net, giving the Raiders a 4-0 lead.
The only defensive hiccup on the night for Richmond came three minutes later when a Yellow Jacket player weaved his way through traffic in the box to slice a grounder past a sprawling Jackson Haley into the net. The last-ditch effort wasn’t enough, as the Raiders held on for the win.
After completing the first week of the season, which Larsen noted as having “three quality non-conference opponents,” Richmond will take Friday off before preparing to open Sandhills Athletic Conference play with another three-match week starting Monday.
The Raiders will travel to Purnell Swett High School (2-1-2) to start the week, before hitting the road to for a contest against reigning SAC champion Pinecrest High School (2-0) on Wednesday. The week will wrap up back at home, as Richmond will play host to non-conference opponent Lee County High School (4-0) on Thursday.
“I told the guys we’re going to take Friday off and try to recuperate from three hard-fought matches this week,” Larsen concluded. “We’ll start back up with conference Monday, and hopefully with some games and a win under our belt, we can go into conference play and keep it going.”
