ROCKINGHAM — Hoping to pick up a timely early season win against Sandhills Athletic Conference powerhouse Pinecrest High School, the Lady Raider soccer team came up short in the teams’ first meeting of the season on Tuesday.
A close first half was undone in the final 40 minutes as Pinecrest handed Richmond a 9-0 loss. The Lady Raiders trailed by two goals at the break before allowing seven second-half goals.
Dating back to the start of the 2019 season, the Lady Raiders have suffered three straight regular-season mercy rule losses to Pinecrest.
“We played a great first half but couldn’t recover from two early goals scored in the second half,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “The girls played nearly mistake-free in the first half.
“I don’t think the score is a good representation of the game,” he added.
The Richmond defense was stout during the game’s first 20 minutes, seeing junior goalkeeper Kelly Hoffman make several tough saves. She swatted the ball away on a header attempt in the 10th minute, and followed that with three sliding saves on odd-man rushes into the box.
But Blair Rice made a run down the right side and beat Hoffman in the 23rd minute, going far post to put Pinecrest up 1-0.
The Lady Raiders regrouped on both sides of the ball and had some scoring chances toward the end of the first half. Larsen also switched up his lineup and played several players in different spots to keep legs fresh.
Savannah Dunahay notched Pinecrest’s second goal in the 36th minute, a shot from the top of the 18-yard box that sailed just over Hoffman’s extended hand.
Out of the break, Keaton Clark and Kate Casey scored two early goals to start the second half, putting the Lady Patriots up 4-0.
“In the second half, a few mistakes were costly for us,” Larsen explained. “I believe the girls realized they can play with anyone, but when we make mistakes, quality teams will capitalize on them.”
Also scoring in the second half was Rice, her game-leading second goal. Finding the back of the net for Pinecrest (2-1-1, 2-0 SAC) were Abby Veit, Morgan McGuirt, Anika Gulovich and Emma Lewis.
“Knowing that we have another big game Thursday, I decided to rest a few of the normal starters in hopes of staying fresh for Jack Britt,” Larsen closed. “That gave a few of the girls the opportunity to get some experience against a top opponent.”
Richmond (1-2-1, 1-1 SAC) will look to return to the win column on Thursday when the Lady Raiders travel to conference foe Jack Britt High School (1-0-1, 1-0 SAC). The game will be played in Fayetteville, starting at 7 p.m.
JV Lady Raiders drop first match of season
Preceding the varsity team’s loss to the Lady Patriots, head coach Tad Hamilton and the junior varsity girls’ soccer team also lost. After starting the season with two wins, the JV Lady Raiders fell by a final score of 4-2.
Scoring for Richmond were Talayeh Covington and Yuliana Gonzalez. Covington gave Richmond a 1-0 lead, which was the score at halftime.
Pinecrest jumped ahead with three unanswered goals, until Gonzalez made it a one-goal deficit. Pinecrest added a late insurance goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Chloe Nunn saw her two-game shutout streak to start her career snapped in the loss.
Now 2-1 overall on the season, and 1-1 against SAC opponents, the JV Lady Raiders will also travel to Jack Britt on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 5:15 p.m.
