It took a few minutes for the Richmond High School boys soccer team to get going in Thursday’s Class D South semifinal against Islesboro, but when the first goal came, it took almost no time for the match to be over.
Yet, all coach Peter Gardner can think about is getting better.
“I thought the kids played well,” Gardner said. “Actually, I thought the other team did some nice things out there and moved the ball. Kind of showed us some little weaknesses in what we’re doing that we’ve got to correct because it can cost us dearly in the next round.”
In the first dangerous sequence of the match, Brendan Emmons watched a shot from the right come back across goal and pounced toward the back post. After calling a teammate off, he gathered the ball and shot off the far post and in to make it 1-0.
A minute and a half later, forward Matt Rines crashed on another shot and smashed in a rebound to double the score.
The match was all but decided when Matt Holt headed home the third goal on a corner in the 27th minute
“A lot of those goals are hustle goals,” Emmons said. “People being in the right spot, putting it in. Creating chances on shots, rebounds, stuff like that — through balls, just working pretty well.”
Emmons was in the perfect position in the 34th minute, when another ball came across the face of goal and he slid up next to the post to tap it in. Richmond fired nine shots in the first half and took a 4-0 lead into the break.
Emmons is part of a Bobcats’ offense that is coming into its own at the just the right time. They’ve scored 10 goals in the postseason already and have been the focal point in a 10-game winning streak.
“We’re gelling at the end,” Emmons said. “We’re all playing well, we’re putting in a lot of work in practice and we’re doing well.”
Gardner isn’t asking for nearly that much.
“I think it’s good,” he said of the current form. “The kids are pretty positive in terms of what they’re doing. I think they have a good understanding of what they need to do. But I also think they understand that the game of soccer is a game. There’s other things that may have a high priority. They’re going to just play, play as hard as they can and we’ll take the result. I always say, give us 100 percent within the lines.”
Mix and Match
Rines found the back of the
net less than two minutes into the second half and opened the door for Gardner to switch things up. An ordinary team might not have the luxury of bringing on subs, switching formations and trying out new
positions in a regional semifinal match, but Richmond is far from ordinary.
“We have kids that can do that,” Gardner said. “It means that someone can move from a position to a position. When you look at it sometimes, it’s like ‘OK we’ll put you back in defense, now we’ll put you in the front and see how it works for you up there. ‘”
Holt, normally a forward, did just that in the middle of the second half, moving to the back to play defense. In the middle of some player rotations, sophomore Nick Adams got the nod and ended up scoring on a keeper blunder with 10 minutes left in the match.
“The biggest thing for me is when we train, we train that way too,” Gardner said. “You’ve got to learn to play each one of the positions because you can do that. At that age, I don’t think they really know what position they would like to be.”
Even during a deep playoff run, Gardner and his coaches are thinking of next season and beyond.
“ You have to do that,” Gardner said. “ Brendan (Emmons), Cody (Tribbet), Matt Holt, Zack Marseglia — those are seniors, so somebody else has to take those places. That’s why we do what we do.”
For now, the future is the upcoming regional final.
No. 2 Seacoast Christian and No. 3 Buckfield have both been knocked out, so the Bobcats will host the winner of No. 6 Greenville and No. 10 Rangeley, likely on Wednesday, with a state championship berth on the line.
No. 1 Richmond 6, No. 5 Islesboro 0
At Richmond High School
| Islesboro | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| Richmond | — | 4 | 2 | — | 0 |
Goals — (R) Brendan Emmons 2, Matt Rines 2, Matt Holt, Nick Adams. Assists —(R) Zack Marseglia 3, Cody Tribbet. Shots on goal — Richmond 11, Islesboro 0. Saves — (I) Devin Small 5; (R) Zach Small 0. Corner kicks — Richmond 14, Islesboro 1. Records — Richmond 15-1, Islesboro 9- 5. Up next for the Bobcats — Class D South Regional final vs. Rangeley/Greenville winner, tentatively Wednesday, time TBA.
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