RICHMOND – Tom Carter had three attempts to get it right, and on the third try he did.
Carter’s direct kick from 20 yards pulled Richmond into a 2-2 tie with Waynflete with five minutes left in their schoolboy soccer game Thursday.
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The score stayed that way through two overtimes, but it almost seemed like a win for Class D Richmond against the Class C Flyers.
“This is huge for us,” Carter said. “They’re worth a lot of (Heal) points.”
Tournament points notwithstanding, the Bobcats (7-1-2) were coming off a 14-0 victory and in need of a test. They got one from the Flyers, particularly in the second half.
Richmond led 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Palmer Gosse off a nice through ball from freshman Nate Tribbett.
The Flyers (4-0-2) picked up the pace in the second half and took a 2-1 lead on goals by Tucker Geoffrey and Kevin Kanakan.
Geoffrey beat Richmond keeper Tyler Harrington (nine saves) in a race to the ball after taking a pass from Omar Abdille, and Kanakan picked a cross from Geoffrey out of mid-air from 10 yards.
“I was pretty disappointed in the way we started,” Waynflete Coach Brandon Salway said. “They outhustled us in the first half. We talked about spreading the field in the second half.”
Although both teams expect to contend in their classes, each is rebuilding.
The Bobcats lost six starters from the team that reached the state final a year ago and the Flyers graduated eight starters from a club that lost one game in the regular season.
“They’re always good,” Richmond Coach Joe Scribellito said.
The Bobcats generated little offense before Carter’s goal. He had two attempts at a direct kick from nearly the same spot with about seven minutes left, hitting the first shot into a wall of defenders before shooting the second one high.
He got a third chance from nearly the same spot, to the left of goalkeeper Zander Majercik (five saves), and this time he didn’t miss.
“I didn’t have any interest to which corner I shot,” Carter said. “But I saw the wall set up to the left.”
Carter struck his shot to the upper right corner, well out of Majercik’s reach.
“I was absolutely shocked when it went in,” he said.
Richmond had its hands full with Abdille, Waynflete’s captain who leads the team with eight goals.
“He’s a great player,” Salway said.
The defense held Abdille to one assist and closed quickly each time he had the ball.
“The three kids in the back played standout defense,” said Scribellito, citing Andrew Rossignol, Kade Strout and Michael Christie.
Rossignol saved two goals, one in each half, after Harrington had gone down following an initial save.
“That was a definite plus for us,” Scribellito said of the tie. “I’ll take that.”
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