ROCKINGHAM — Starting its season Monday, the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity girls’ soccer team used a healthy dose of scoring to earn a shutout win.
Hosting Lumberton High School, the JV Lady Raiders shot their way to a 7-0 victory.
Richmond netted three goals in the opening 35 minutes, before adding four tallies in the second half.
Two players scored two goals each — freshmen Miley Locklear and Anajiah Pore. Netting a goal apiece were sophomores Isabella Chavez and Yicel Lopez, as well as freshman Sophia Legrand.
In the net for Richmond was sophomore goalkeeper Hayden Chappell, who was credited with her first career shutout.
“It’s always nice to start the season with a win,” head coach Bennie Howard said. “We’re a very, very young team and a lot of what we’ve worked on this season is new to them.
“I’m very proud of the girls, but we’ve got to learn to win the ball out of the air, get in better shape than we are, and get the ball off our feet quicker,” he added. “These are all things we can do in practice and we’ll work on them the next few days.”
In the opening 30 seconds, Chavez scored the eventual game-winning goal on 1v1 situation on a low strike to the left side of the net.
Pore, who had both of her goals in the first half, scored her first tally in the 13th minute. She collected a deflected ball in the box and scored from close range.
Later, in the 17th minute, Pore hit the right post on a shot attempt, which found its way to Legrand. Sliding the ball back to the middle, Legrand got the assist when Pore scored again from inside the six-yard box.
Following halftime, Locklear scored her two goals and Legrand and Lopez each found the back of the net to pour on the offense.
The JV Lady Raiders (1-0) return to the pitch Friday to host non-conference Purnell Swett High School. The match will start at 5:15 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish photos of the JV girls’ soccer team’s season opener later in the week.
