AUBURN — Richmond High School girls’ varsity soccer coach Troy Kendrick had this one circled on the calendar from the get-go. He called Thursday’s match with St. Dominic Academy a “measuring stick” for his team.

He certainly learned a lot.

Despite a two-goal cushion and an extra player, the Bobcats were tested when the home side controlled possession with the disadvantage and even got a goal back. 

But time ran out on the Saints, Rishmond got one more goal late and held on for a 3-1 win.

“I certainly liked the heart and the intensity that we played with,” Kendrick said. “Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t have to go hard. I like to see my kids digging and going hard for 80 minutes.”

The match was even to start, with both sides enjoying possession and stringing passes together, but when Richmond (2-0) earned its first corner, St. Dom’s (0-2) paid for it. Destiny Anair lofted a long ball over the goalkeeper and onto the head of a Saints defender, where it took an unfortunate bounce into the net.

Anair was credited with the goal and the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead.

“We just aren’t dominating in the air,” St. Dom’s coach Alicia Pelletier said. “We have a major weakness and they happened to exploit it, and it was just to our detriment. We couldn’t capitalize on several chances we had point blank.”

Richmond capitalized on another key chance later in the half. Chasing down a long through ball played from her own half, Meranda Martin bounced off a Saints defender and sprinted into the box with the ball. As she approached goalie Abby Castonguay, she was shoved from behind. Martin scored on her penalty shot, and the Saints’ defender was ejected.

“That’s what I had been waiting for all game,” Martin said. “That long ball that I can just take and go as hard as I can into the net. I felt them right on my back and as soon as I felt her shove me and the whistle blow, instant rush of adrenaline. It was my first one in a game and it was pretty intense.”

Castonguay was tested a few more times before halftime, making a diving save on a set piece and watching a long shot clank off the crossbar, but the Saints managed to keep the deficit at two after 40 minutes.

It took a while, but the hosts finally got their break in the 66th minute. The referee pointed to the penalty spot again after a Saints cross flew off the arm of a Richmond defender just inside the box. Kristina Cornelio stepped up to calmly finish the ball into the upper left corner and give her team a well-deserved goal.

Out of the break, St. Dom’s controlled possession for a solid 10 minutes and tested Richmond keeper Sydney Tilton with two more shots on goal before earning its first corner in the 49th minute.

“They’ve got some tremendous athletes over there, so I knew, even a man down, that we were going to have our hands full,” Kendrick said of St. Dom’s. “At times, we just looked young and inexperienced. At times, we could have done better with our touches and our possession. We broke down at times with that stuff.”

“We’re definitely a second-half team,” Pelletier said. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us in the first half. My girls always rise to the challenge. Playing down a man I couldn’t ask for them, adapting to a different system, to play any harder than they did. They left it all on the field. It’s just unfortunate that we were stuck in that situation and digging ourselves out of a hole.”

Fighting for possession and frantically clearing the ball are simply things the Bobcats aren’t used to.

“They definitely kept a lot of possession compared to us,” Martin said. “We were just kind of kicking it out, trying to get it out of there so they wouldn’t score. That’s what was hurting us a lot — we were kicking and chasing and getting really tired. St. Dom’s was keeping possession and passing the ball to each other and we were just chasing.”

Perhaps fittingly, it was just six minutes after the penalty that Martin, a senior captain, responded and sealed the result for Richmond. With just over eight minutes left to play, she gathered the ball in the midfield and turned tightly with the ball toward the touchline. A couple more touches got her past a St. Dom’s defender and on the edge of the box, where she struck a ball across goal and onto the foot of Caitlin Kendrick.

The tap-in was Richmond’s 13th shot of the game (nine on frame).

“Very creative,” Kendrick said of Martin. “I bounce her back and forth from on top and back into the midfield because she can run all day. She’s kind of our spark plug — she really makes us go. Made a nice run, laid a ball across for Caitlin (Kendrick) to finish off. She’s quality.”

St. Dom’s finished with 11 shots and two corners, while Richmond notched five corners.

While a win is something the Bobcats are used to, working a full 80 minutes for it isn’t.

“Definitely opens their eyes,” Martin said of her younger teammates. “It’s just the beginning of the season and we’re just starting to get conditioning under our belts and this was a good test for us. It really opened some eyes.”

“They’re measuring sticks for us in that we know we’re going to have to go hard for 80 minutes,” Kendrick said of the game and a date with Sacopee Valley on Oct. 6. “That was a nice quality win for us — kind of a confidence booster.”

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