The Richmond Senior High School Soccer Team got back to work following a summer filled with offseason workouts and camps.
The Raiders look to improve upon a 9-11-1 campaign, where they finished fifth in the Sandhills Athletic Conference (5-7-1) under Coach Chris Larsen.
“We’re trending in the right direction. We had a good scrimmage on Saturday. We took one on the chin, then we bounced back real quick. We saw some things we need to focus on in practice this week, but if we get back to the basics and correct those things, then we’re on the right track to have a positive start to the season,” Larsen said.
The Raiders open the season on the road Monday at Piedmont, and it seems Larsen has a solid idea of his starters and role players heading into the game. With the squad separated into varsity and JV teams, the JV players still had a chance to prove themselves near the end of practice with a scrimmage on a truncated field.
“We’ve had a good summer. We had three or four weeks we’ve been able to go this summer. Some of our guys were able to get a camp in right before we started. That was good for them to get some game experience. We should be adjusted to the weather. It’s been a hot summer, without a lot of rain until this apparently this week. It’s nice to have a cool day to mix in, but I think we’re making good strides to be ready for Monday,” Larsen said.
Heading into this season, the Raiders will have to fill vacancies left by department seniors Matthew Leggett, Edwin Estrada, Samuel Hawks, Diego Mendez, Giovanni Armenia, Jesus Castro, Vernon McDonald and James Eason graduating last May. Despite graduating eight seniors from the roster, senior Adrian Padron believes the Raiders will be fine so long as they continue making progress.
“I think we’re great. If we keep on doing what we do in practice, and listening to coach, I think we’ll have a great season,” Padron said.
Senior Daryan Mendez credited Padron’s confidence to early development of team chemistry. Although the seniors may have taken up a majority of the playing time last season, this Mendez said this year’s squad played together since middle school.
“I think it’s great. We played since middle school. We have good chemistry. We communicate,” Mendez said.
While trying to build for this season, one aspect for this year’s seniors is also building for tomorrow.
“It’s really just making a statement. You have to tell the youngers, this might be you in a couple of years. You have to talk to them,” senior Landon Summerlin said.