ROCKINGHAM — A week between games didn’t stop the Richmond Senior High School girls’ soccer team from capturing another win on Wednesday.
Playing host to Lumberton High School, the Lady Raiders used two second-half goals to earn a 2-0 win and complete the regular-season series sweep against the Lady Pirates.
Junior Kaitlyn Huff and senior Jayla McDougald, Richmond’s top two goal scorers this season, each tallied one goal. Junior Ellie Buck recorded her second assist of the spring on McDougald’s mark.
Both scores came off of corner kicks, which is something Richmond has worked on improving this spring.
Richmond was all around the net, recording 26 shots on frame, including 11 in the first half and 15 in the final 40 minutes. Huff led the way with eight shots, junior Destiny Barrick added five shots and Buck had four shots on net.
Senior forward Jayla McDougald (4) moves around a defender during Richmond’s 2-0 win.
“The girls came out a little sloppy, and our touches around the goal let us down a little bit early,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “But overall, I was pleased with how we moved the ball around all game. It was some of the best passing and possession we’ve had this season.
“Once we got the first goal in, the second one followed pretty quickly,” he continued. “They came later than we wanted them to, but we didn’t give up and we had a ton of shots on net. Our set pieces were really effective and we were able to capitalize on them tonight.”
In the 53rd minute, the Lady Raiders finally got on the board with Huff’s team-leading 10th goal of the season. Buck took a corner kick and sent it into the box, where after a series of bounces, Huff collected it and sent a shot past goalkeeper Brianna Richardson.
Twenty minutes later, Buck lined up another corner kick, this time airing the ball to McDougald, who headed the ball into the back of the net. She now has eight goals this season, second on the team.
Larsen said he made a couple of changes to the defensive line, which paid dividends in the win. Richmond’s back four played closer to midfield to stop any counter attacks, which allowed senior goalkeeper Kelly Hoffman the ability to clear the ball without much trouble.
Paired in the middle at center back were Paxlee and Bobbie Faircloth, and flanking them were Meghan McKenzie and Kalei Sriratanakoul on the outsides.
He moved Barrick up to play holding midfielder, a role that allowed her to “distribute the ball really well” on the offensive attack. Shelly Hoffman and Caroline Whitely were also used in that position Wednesday, which Larsen credited to keeping Lumberton (1-7-2) on its heels.
Kelly Hoffman was credited with the shutout, her third clean sheet this spring.
“Kelly made a lot of good plays tonight, and since Lumberton played a lot of balls over the top, she was able to come out and knock it back to our girls,” Larsen said of his keeper. “She did a great job settling the ball and regrouping us.
“The backline has been a learning curve for us this year, but they’ve come a long way and they stepped up tonight,” he added. “They kept Lumberton from taking many shots on Kelly and played really solid.”
Senior GK Kelly Hoffman (orange) clears a ball during the first half of Wednesday’s shutout.
Sitting comfortably in the second-place spot of the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings, the Lady Raiders (8-2) will have a quick turnaround and travel to Hoke County High School (4-3-1) for a game on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Richmond will close the regular season with three matches next week: home against Seventy-First for senior night on Monday; at rival Scotland on Wednesday and conclude with Purnell Swett at home on Thursday.
“It was good to stay in the win column after not playing for a week,” Larsen said. “We have a full stretch ahead with a game Thursday and then three games next week, starting with a senior night game against a much-improved Seventy-First team.
“If we can keep the momentum rolling, it will be a good lead into the playoffs, which we should be able to do,” he closed.
Junior midfielder Kaitlyn Huff (3) scored the game-winning goal on Wednesday.
Junior Ellie Buck (22) was key on set pieces, earning an assist off a corner kick in the second half.
