Junior forward Luke Williams winds up for a shot in the first half Wednesday night against Lumberton.
                                 Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

Junior forward Luke Williams winds up for a shot in the first half Wednesday night against Lumberton.

Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

<p>Senior midfielder Hector Castro (19) dribbles into the 18-yard box against Lumberton Wednesday night.</p>
                                 <p>Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal</p>

Senior midfielder Hector Castro (19) dribbles into the 18-yard box against Lumberton Wednesday night.

Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

<p>Junior Pedro Molina dribbles up the field on a counterattack against a pair of Lumberton defenders Wednesday night.</p>
                                 <p>Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal</p>

Junior Pedro Molina dribbles up the field on a counterattack against a pair of Lumberton defenders Wednesday night.

Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

ROCKINGHAM — In a showdown between two teams that have proven to be very evenly matched, the Richmond Senior High School varsity boys’ soccer team gave themselves the edge they needed.

Coming into Wednesday night’s game, the Raiders were half a game behind Lumberton in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings, and after beating the Pirates 4-2, Richmond jumps Lumberton for third-place headed into the final week of the season.

“Us being ourselves — we just played our game,” said head coach Chris Larsen. “We didn’t change anything until probably the last 10 minutes. Being able to score a goal late, you could tell the wind was taken out of their sails. It was just a good hard-fought match, the whole 80 minutes.”

However, that means the Raiders (7-3-1) have a slim margin for error over their last three games next week if they want to grab the conference’s second automatic state playoff bid or a wild card playoff spot.

“I preach to them and preach to them — every game is important, every win is important,” Larsen said. “If we have any aspirations of making the state playoffs, we have to win. But like I told the guys, they’re doing their part to put themselves in situation of being on the bubble of being in so that’s what I’m proud of.”

After the Raiders drew Lumberton 3-3 on Feb. 8, Larsen said he knew that result would increase the significance of their second game against the Pirates with the two teams so close in the standings.

“We knew how important this game was so we came in cool-headed and ready to play,” said junior midfielder Alex Medina. “It gives us a fighting chance at states now. Every game counts from here on out so we have to give it our all every night.”

On the field, the two teams have proven to be very evenly matched this season. Larsen said the two squads have players with similar physical attributes and skillsets.

“In terms of matching up with them, they might get us one year and we might get them the next year, it’s just always been a back and forth with them,” Larsen said.

The Raiders opened the scoring in the 24th minute when junior midfielder Alex Medina played a ball off his chest about 25-30 yards out. He let the ball drop to the ground, paused for a split second, looked up towards goal and struck a bending half-volley that soared over Lumberton goalkeeper Jackson Davis’ head and dipped under the crossbar into the side netting of the goal to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

“I’ve always enjoyed volleying the ball, so it just kind of came naturally to me,” Medina said. “I knew that this was a chance to put us in the lead and I knew how important this game was to us. So I just tried my best to place it and luckily I put it right into the side netting.”

In the 36th minute, the Pirates (6-3-2) equalized off a missed clearance inside Richmond’s penalty box. A Raider defender misstruck a ball they were trying to clear and Lumberton’s Jair Santos put it away into the bottom right corner.

It only took about 30 seconds for the Raiders to respond and retake the lead. Using their fast build-up style of play, the Raiders played a long ball straight from kick off to their forwards along Lumberton’s backline. The pass drew Davis out of goal and senior midfielder Noah Aiken lofted the ball over Davis’ head and into the open net, and Richmond took a 2-1 lead into halftime.

There was a clear momentum shift to start the second half. The Pirates possessed the ball more and early on and were more aggressive in attack, and it paid off with another equalizer in the 45th minute. A Lumberton cross and header drew senior goalkeeper James Ammons out of position and Lumberton’s Erik Martinez was able to score to knot the game 2-2.

Richmond reclaimed the lead about 10 minutes later on a counterattack. A long ball from midfield fell to senior midfielder Hector Castro around the 18-yard box, he then dribbled, cut inside and passed to Medina, who struck a low shot between two Lumberton defenders into the bottom right corner of the goal for a 3-2 lead.

With Lumberton chasing an equalizer, the Raiders were able to counterattack into space since the Pirates had numbers forward up the field, which is how junior forward Luke Williams netted Richmond’s fourth goal in the 72nd minute to just about put the game on ice.

Ammons had a critical save on Lumberton breakaway with about four minutes left that helped keep the two-goal lead.

“I was thinking I could have either sat back and they have their chance to score or I could go up and put my whole body in front of it, and that’s what I decided to do,” Ammons said. “They have a pretty good defense, but our defense locked it down as well. That was the key to helping me out tonight. My four defenders just kept on pushing through with it and getting the ball.”

Medina finished with two goals, while Aiken and Williams each added one of their own.

Next, the Raiders host Seventy-First on Monday night.

JV Raiders beat Lumberton

The Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team beat Lumberton 4-0 Wednesday night.

The JV Raiders scored one goal in the first half and then netted three more in the second half in the win.

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Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2675 ext. 2751 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.