Speedster sinks Lady Raiders 3-0 in senior night loss

RICHMOND — A pair of goals by Cape Fear senior forward Jayda Angel put the Richmond Lady Raiders in a deficit they could not overcome during last Thursday’s 3-0 senior night loss.

Lady Raiders coach Chris Larsen credited Angel’s speed for putting them in an early hole, resulting in their second straight loss after falling 1-0 in overtime to Pinecrest Wednesday night.

“I think they played well. Especially after a lot of these girls played 100 minutes [Wednesday] night. I didn’t expect last night to be what it was, and I figured we would kind of be tired [Thursday]. We’ve always gone back and forth with Cape Fear,” Larsen said. “We got them last year, and they got us the year before. It’s always a tight ballgame, but [Angel], who scored two goals, she’s the fastest girl we’ve seen all year. Probably the fastest we ever will see this year. She created a lot of trouble for us. It took us a while to mark up. Hopefully, we can use that as experience moving forward. You never know who you’re going to play down the road.”

Junior goalie Sa’Quanna Bostic tallied 8 saves over 80 minutes of work.

Before the opening kickoff, game officials recognized Richmond seniors Emma Altman, Kaleigh Cloninger, Jenna Gardner, Evie Howell, Gabby Lutz and Allie Rogers. Although suffering a senior night loss, they did not allow the shortfall to spoil their postgame festivities.

“It feels really great to be in front of all of the people that support us week in and week out. A lot of these people are here for every home game, and a lot of the away games too. This feels like a celebration of us,” Lutz said.

With the loss, the Lady Raiders fall to 7-6-2 overall, and sit fourth in the Sandhills Athletic Conference at 3-4. They return to the pitch with a trio of road games against Hoke County 7 p.m. Friday, followed 7 p.m. matches against Union Pines and Purnell Swett Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

“We definitely got some tough competition coming up for the rest of the season, but we can get it done … We’ve competed with just about everybody we’ve played, so I think we can get some wins in,” Lutz said.