RICHMOND — When the Richmond High School girls’ soccer team last met with East-West Conference rival Rangeley, the Lakers gave the Bobcats all they could handle in a 1-0 Western D semifinal loss last year.

In Saturday’s rematch, Rangeley once again gave the Bobcats some trouble, with the game scoreless near the midway point of the opening half.

Then Richmond, well to be honest, Kelsea Anair, took over. The senior striker, who is nearing the all-time goal-scoring record at Richmond, tallied three straight goals as the Bobcats pulled away for a 5-0 win.

Richmond, 1-0 and slated to host Class C Old Orchard Beach on Thursday, also received a goal each from Meranda Martin and Autumn Acord. The Bobcats outshot the Lakers, 39-3, with Rangeley netminder Sydney Royce making 21 saves and receiving a lot of help from the goal posts. Richmond struck iron five times in the second half.

“Obviously we got off to a slow start, and we talked about last year’s playoff game. It really was first game jitters,” Richmond coach Troy Kendrick said. “They wanted to play well and they were trying too hard. They got settled in over that middle 40 minutes and played some pretty good soccer with some pretty goals. We didn’t give them many open looks.”

“We know there is still work to do, and we are not where we left off last year,” said Rangeley coach Chip Smith, whose Lakers host Valley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. “We have a lot of young kids playing, but the soccer tactics continue. We look at Richmond and we want to play like they play.”

Anair strikes

Anair’s first goal was unassisted and came with 21:50 remaining in the first half.

In the final six minutes of the opening frame, Richmond took over. Anair finished off a pass from Destiny Anair, and Molly Meagher found Richmond’s top striker for another goal 1:13 later for a 3-0 edge.

As the clock ticked down to under one minute remaining in the half, Martin put her team up 4-0 off a corner kick, with Destiny Anair picking up her second assist.

“We have been working hard, doing extra conditioning, and everyone is trying to get better,” said Kelsea Anair, who says Richmond is not looking too far into the season. “We are not looking to get back to states right now. We are working to not lose.

“At halftime, we were pretty pumped up. But, you could tell that it was the first game. We had some jitters in the first half, but once we scored that first goal, we were fine.”

“Kelsea is a finisher and has a great nose for the goal with some unselfish teammates who make that extra pass to set her up,” Kendrick said. “We could have had four or five more goals with any sort of luck.”

Autumn Acord finished the scoring 4:22 into the second half, this time off a nice setup from Meagher. From there, it was the goal post and the play of Rangeley goaltender Royce that kept the score right there the rest of the way. Kelsea Anair struck iron three times, and Acord found the white post twice more over a three-minute stretch. Royce also made four diving stops, stoning Camryn Hurley, Martin and Acord from close range.

On the other end, Richmond starting goaltender Sydney Tilton faced little in the way of Rangeley scoring chances. She was forced to make one save — a hard shot from 25-yards out off the foot of Rangeley’s Mackenzie Gatcomb. Kennedy Chandler played the final three minutes in net for the Bobcats and didn’t face a shot.

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