BATH — The Richmond boys soccer team is back in a regional final.
The Bobcats beat Temple Academy 5-0 in a Class D South semifinal Saturday at McMann Field. The victory sends Richmond (12-2-1) to its sixth Class D South regional final in the past eight years. Richmond will take on North Yarmouth Academy on Wednesday at Lewiston High School.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it is every time you (reach regionals),” Richmond coach Peter Gardner said. “At the same time, if we didn’t do it, I know what they’ve done (this season) and how hard they worked…How well they’ve played this year, coming from where I’d thought they’d be, to where they are tonight, is pretty impressive.”
Richmond’s Andrew Vachon, left, heads the ball in front of Temple’s Noah Young during the Class D South semifinals Saturday at McMann Field in Bath. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo
The Bereans — who played NYA in the regional final last season — ends the season 9-5-2.
The Bobcats held an advantage in both possession and shots throughout the first half, but the Bereans managed to hang tough defensively, turning away each Richmond shot. But Cole Alexander changed the game for the Bobcats, scoring two goals in the final two minutes to give Richmond a 2-0 halftime lead.
“Confidence was definitely there,” Alexander said. “We played them two times before. We came into it confident we were going to put some goals by them.”
Temple continued to fight and showed a better attack in the second half, but Richmond was simply too much, adding an early goal by Dakotah Gilpatric, along with scores by Ben Gardner and Andrew Vachon to go up 5-0. Vachon added three assists for Richmond.
Wednesday’s matchup will be the third time the Bobcats have seen NYA this season. Richmond won 2-0 in the first game Sept. 18, but fell 1-0 to NYA on Oct. 1.
“We should have a good, tough game,” Alexander said. “They have some scorers, and they’ve got a pretty good defense. We’ll have to work hard to get some shots by them.”
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