ROCKINGHAM — Unable to win its second straight match, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team dropped its non-conference contest Monday.
Facing a tough St. Pauls High School squad, the Raiders suffered a 4-0 loss.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of goals in each half. Playing the first half in net was junior Eric Legrand, with senior goalkeeper Camden Williams minding the posts for the final 40 minutes.
Head coach Chris Larsen noted Richmond wasn’t able to carry over the momentum and quality style of play from last week’s victory over Cape Fear High School.
“We have the chance to be and can be a very good team,” Larsen said. “We made some headway when we beat Cape Fear in terms of doing things that made us successful and we were rewarded with a win.
“I thought that would turn the tide a little bit, but we weren’t able to pick back up where we left off. We may have had a little bit of a hangover from that win last week and I think that cost us tonight.
“Our energy level was the biggest difference tonight,” he added. “We came out with a little bit of a flat start and we weren’t able to really get our footing.”
Richmond had an early scoring chance in the third minute when junior Patrick Smith made a cross into the box that was headed over the bar by junior Kevin Diaz Lopez.
Legrand made a fingertip save in the 11th minute, knocking the ball over the net to keep the match scoreless. He followed that with a diving save a minute later.
Another scoring chance for the Raiders came in the 14th minute when junior Brian Griffith sent a free kick into the danger zone. Seniors Elen Fonseca Garcia and Memphis Jacobs both crashed the box and tried to head it in, but the volley trickled through untouched with a defender in the mix.
St. Pauls’ first goal was a laser in the 15th minute, a strike that bent its way in from a tight angle to make it 1-0.
Seven minutes later, the Bulldogs connected on a slide through the box for a back post goal in the 22nd minute.
“Their first goal was a great shot and there wasn’t really anything we could’ve done to stop it,” Larsen shared.
“The second goal is the one that took the wind out of our sails. We compounded a few mistakes that led to that goal and we didn’t make a good defensive stance on the cross.”
Junior Bryan Mendez Mendoza nearly cut the deficit in half on a powerful strike in the 25th minute but it didn’t find the back of the net. Diaz Lopez followed with a shot that was just wide of the left post on a cross from Jacobs in the final minute of the half.
In the second half, Smith gave Richmond’s offense two good looks on net. In the 51st minute, Smith sent a free kick from the right corner into the box, but the Raiders couldn’t get a shot on net.
Five minutes later, St. Pauls (4-2-1) committed a turnover in its own defensive zone along the back line. Taking possession was Smith along the right third, who peppered a shot attempt toward the goal that was left of the mark.
The Bulldogs scored their third goal in the 57th minute, a knuckler that snuck its way under the crossbar past a leaping Williams.
St. Pauls’ final goal came in the 59th minute on a penalty kick after Richmond committed a foul in the box.
“We’ve got some soul searching to do,” Larsen closed. “We’ve got to find something within ourselves as a team to get back on the same page. If we do that, we can try to close out our non-conference schedule with some wins over the next week and a half.”
Richmond (2-5-1) returns to the pitch Wednesday at Montgomery Central High School (7-1). The non-conference match will begin at 7 p.m.
