The Richmond Senior men’s soccer team defended its home turf Tuesday night, defeating the Forest Hills Yellow Jackets, 4-2 to improve to 4-3-1 on the young season.

The Raiders were able to start the game off on the right foot by forcing a turnover, but it wasn’t until midway through in the first half that the Raiders got a goal on the scoreboard.

Brian Smith and Zach Shilen were able to get quality shots at the goal early but unfortunately they both sailed over the crossbar.

Miguel Reyes finally found the back of the net to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead with 21:59 left in the first half.

The Yellow Jackets tied the game on a shot that was placed above the left arm of keeper Chris McDonald with 17:35 left until intermission. It appeared that the Raiders were in for a long and physical game, as the Jackets just kept coming.

However, Davis Hilton scored with 10:00 left in the first, giving the Raiders a 2-1 lead heading into the half.

The Raiders started the second half in better fashion, as Brandon Benoist was able to score a goal with an assist by Zach Shilen just five minutes into the second half.

Forest Hills wanted to prove that they had fight left in them, and scored a goal at the 15 minute mark.

However, Shilen scored just two minutes later to give Richmond the 4-2 lead and the Raiders were not denied the opportunity to push their record above .500 on the season.

In what could have been a huge momentum swing, the Yellow Jackets were lined up with a penalty kick against Raider keeper McDonald, who made a diving save to the bottom right of the north goal to keep the Yellow Jackets off the score board and seal the game for Richmond.

The Raiders seemed to be more focused on the task at hand Tuesday night.

“We played a good game tonight. The guys did the little things that we needed them to do in order for us to win,” said Head Coach Bennie Howard.

“We had a faster pace tonight, and played a really good squad from Forest Hills and were able to walk away with a win,” Howard added.

The Raiders will take the rest of the week to prepare for the daunting task of playing against Southern Lee for the first time this year as the Raiders will try to push the win streak to two games and gain valuable momentum before entering conference play. Southern Lee visits Raider Stadium Saturday night. The J.V. match kicks off at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity slated to follow at about 7 p.m.

Contact sports reporter Travis Anderson at 997-3111 ext. 44 or via e-mail at tanderson@yourdailyjournal.com