The senior members of the Richmond women’s soccer team were honored before Wednesday’s game with Hoke. The Lady Raiders lost the contest 6-0 on Senior Night.
Hoke blanked the Lady Raiders for the second time this season and swept the season series after a a 6-0 victory at Raider Stadium. The Lady Raiders missed out on an opportunity to tie the Lady Bucks for fourth place in the MSEC.
Richmond (6-11-2, 6-8) will be the fifth seed out of the league in next week’s 4-AA state playoffs and will travel to play top seed and Two-Rivers conference champions Terry Sanford in the first round.
“We had a chance to improve our seeding, but now we got to get ready for a strong Terry Sanford team,” Howard said. “We will try to prepare and give it our best shot.”
Hoke (13-10-1, 8-6), which clinched the fourth seed, led 2-0 at halftime. Janis Hoaglin started the Lady Bucks scoring when she blasted a kick in the 11th minute mark past Richmond goalie Brittany Roberts to give Hoke a 1-0 lead.
With 1:08 seconds remaining in the first half, Richmond’s Brittney Hudson had a breakaway attempt denied by Hoke’s keeper Janae Aikens. The Lady Bucks turned defense into offense as Haley Edmiston scored with 49.3 seconds left, giving Hoke a two-goal advantage at intermission.
“It was a just a blunder of mistakes and you can’t do that against a quality team,” Howard said.
Following halftime, Hoke kept the pressure on and scored four second-half goals. Erika Dowdy stretched the lead to 3-0 with a goal in the 42th minute and Tiffany Hammond booted a kick in front of the net in the 25th minute to increase the lead to 4-0. Hoke finished the onslaught with goals from Ambria McNeil in the 21th minute and Rhian Merwald blasted a kick in the back of the net from 10-yards out in the 78th minute to give Hoke a 6-0 lead.
“We didn’t set the tone very well early,” Howard said. “Once they started scoring, it became a domino effect and it’s frustrating to lose on Senior Night. But we’re in the playoffs so that is somewhat of an accomplishment.”
n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com
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