Richmond Hill cruised to an 8-0 win against the Liberty County girls and a 5-1 win against the boys’ soccer squad in Region 2A-AAAA matchups Tuesday afternoon at Donell Woods Stadium.
“We played well the first 20 minutes in the first half, and then Richmond Hill’s experience just took over. They had really good ball movement,” Liberty County Lady Panthers soccer coach Jarvis McArthur said.
Sarah Goolsby led the Lady Wildcats, scoring three goals. Lisa Bausaum and Bonnie Holleman put in two goals. Caroline Smith and Carly Mills finished with one goal each.
Despite the win, Richmond Hill head coach Steven Kollman said that his girls played passively during the first part of the game.
“We started out very passive. The length and thickness of the grass kind of threw us a little bit, so we had to adjust to that. We figured we could not dribble the same way. We could not dribble the ball, so we getting one touch and passing the ball,” Kollman said.
Richmond Hill used the entire field, spacing out its offense and spreading the Liberty defense, which opened lanes to the goal. The Lady Cats also were able to employ set plays.
“Richmond Hill put on a clinic the way they moved the ball. Defensively, Cynthia Kornegay, Mystery Ellert, Courtney Welch and Taylor Christner played well for us,” McArthur said.
Richmond Hill moves to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in region play and will host Wayne County on Friday night. Liberty falls to 1-6-1 and 1-5 in region 2A-AAAA and plays Brunswick at 5 p.m. today at home for Senior Night.
In the boys’ game, the Wildcats took an early lead, scoring in the first four minutes. Drew Gregerson charged past Liberty goalkeeper Cory Lazenby for a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats offense got three shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. Liberty tied the game when Panther Anderson Abreu took a shot that ricocheted off the goal post and went into the net, tying the game, 1-1.
Forward Juwan Gual scored twice for the Wildcats. Kenneth Adams and Jonathan Hatala each scored a goal for Richmond Hill. “The Liberty game went well for us. We played a good possession game for the most part. We were able to create … scoring opportunities but didn’t finish as many of those chances as we should have. We saw some things that we really need to work on in practice, but I’m pleased for the most part. I’m pleased with how we played,” Richmond Hill head coach Robbie Flanders said.
Richmond Hill moves to 6-1 overall and 6-0 in Region 2A-AAAA play. The Wildcats will host Wayne County tonight.
“We are 6-0 in the sub-region but still have a tough road ahead of us with Wayne and Glynn still to face. We are happy with the position we are in right now and will need to play at a much higher level to stay in the driver’s seat,” Flanders said.
“Even though the score was not to our advantage, I saw hop in our team,” Liberty coach Bryant Durham said. “The kids never gave up and continued playing until the ending buzzer. We finally showed some of the aggression that has been missing a few games and began working the ball more, looking for opportunities as well as communicating better. I look forward to seeing the kids carry that forward to the next game.”
Liberty falls to 1-6-1 for the season and 0-5 in region play. The Panthers host Brunswick at 7 p.m. tonight for senior night.