RICHMOND — Freshman Rogers Crowley headed in a goal in the ninth minute of the second half and it stood as the game’s only score as North Yarmouth Academy slipped past Richmond, 1-0, in Class D boys high school soccer action on Tuesday.
North Yarmouth Academy keeper Saul Alexander (66), Richmond’s Cole Alexander (center) and NYA’s Seamus Rohde (right) all watch the ball as it bounces away from the net in the first half of Monday’s Class D boys high school soccer game at Richmond High School. The Panthers came away with a 1-0 win. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
Richmond suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 5-1. NYA improved to 2-5-2 with the win.
“It was good play out there, they did what they needed to do,” Richmond coach Peter Gardner said. “They worked the ball from one side to the other really well.”
After a 14-goal outburst against Valley on Saturday, Richmond knew goals were not going to come easy. The Bobcats defeated the Panthers, 2-0, in their previous matchup on Sept. 18.
Richmond applied pressure early, putting shots either around or on the net, where NYA keeper Saul Alexander made the stops.
A little over midway through the opening frame, NYA missed a couple scoring opportunities with shots that were off the mark.
Late in the half, NYA’s Charles Rohde broke away from his defender and was able to get a shot on goal, but Richmond goalie Kyle Tilton made the stop, knocking it up in the air and catching it on its way down to keep the game scoreless heading into the half.
Richmond’s Ben Gardner (3) beats NYA’s Pierce Manchester to the ball during Tuesday’s Class D boys high school soccer game at Richmond High School. The Panthers won the game, 1-0. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
“We were just doing what we normally do and practice,” Richmond senior Adem Beaulieu said about defending in front of the team’s keeper. “We just try to keep the ball away from Kyle.”
The two teams played an even opening 40 minutes, with each squad putting four shots on goal with both having four corner kicks apiece.
“We missed on three or four opportunities (in the first half). Usually when we get the ball down inside, one of them puts the ball in the back of the net, that didn’t happen today,” Gardner said.
Lone goal
With 31:23 left, the ball found the back of the net after NYA’s Seamus Rohde split a pair of Bobcat defenders on the left side before placing a near-perfect ball into the middle. That was where Crowley headed the ball into the net for the score.
“It was a great ball from Seamus that was played to my head. I think the goalie was in the right side of the goal, so I just headed it across into the bottom corner,” Crowley, who scored his second goal of the season and his first header, said.
Richmond had chances, including a Beaulieu shot that Alexander punched away for the save with 12 minutes remaining.
“We went down there and scored a couple of goals earlier in the season, finishing our corner kicks. We had our corner kicks today, but we didn’t finish them,” Gardner said. “We should have finished a couple, but we didn’t and that’s the game.”
Dakotah Gilpatric had a free kick with 10 seconds left that went right to Alexander (seven saves) for the final stop.
“We will capitalize on what we didn’t do right and figure out why we couldn’t finish today,” Gardner said after the loss. “They work very hard together, they know that’s what they have to do to have success. The key will be how we recover after what just happened out there.”
North Yarmouth Academy’s Stefan Kulhanek (18) is surrounded by Richmond’ Andrew Vachon (9) and Ben Gardner (3) as Dakotah Gilpatric (14) and Will Miller (17) look on from behind. The Panthers beat the Bobcats 1-0. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
“We’ll go back to practice and work harder,” Beaulieu added. “It’s pedal to the medal the rest of the way. In a way we kind of needed this, this is what we needed to pull the team together.”
Richmond travels to St. Dom’s on Thursday to take on the Class C Saints at 4:45 p.m.
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