Jackson Hernandez (7) battles with Richmond’s Phonix Jacobs (13) for possession of the ball during their matchup on Wednesday night at Scotland High School.
                                 Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

Jackson Hernandez (7) battles with Richmond’s Phonix Jacobs (13) for possession of the ball during their matchup on Wednesday night at Scotland High School.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

<p>Jake Tew (2) kicks the ball across the field to a teammate during Scotland’s game against Richmond.</p>
                                 <p>Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange</p>

Jake Tew (2) kicks the ball across the field to a teammate during Scotland’s game against Richmond.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

<p>Senior Ciro Velasco (16) dribbles the ball up the field.</p>
                                 <p>Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange</p>

Senior Ciro Velasco (16) dribbles the ball up the field.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

<p>Scots goaltender Chris White passes the ball to a teammate during the second half of Scotland’s game against the Raiders on Wednesday.</p>
                                 <p>Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange</p>

Scots goaltender Chris White passes the ball to a teammate during the second half of Scotland’s game against the Raiders on Wednesday.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

LAURINBURG —The Fighting Scots boys soccer team was defeated in a 2-1 final on Wednesday night against archrival Richmond at Scotland High School. It was Scotland’s second loss to the Raiders this season, having also fell 4-2 in Richmond back on Sept. 30. The Scots recognized their seven seniors prior to the game: Jimmy Locklear, Tre Kennedy, Matthew White, Anthony Pate, Ciro Velasco, Myles Norton and Tri Duong.

The Raiders held a 2-0 lead at halftime thanks to getting on the board just over 10 minutes into the game and then adding onto it via a penalty kick goal against Scots goaltender Chris White with five minutes left until the break. The last goal of the game came on another penalty kick with just eight minutes left in regulation, this one from Norton that cut Richmond’s lead in half.

Outside of their first three games of the season where they only allowed one goal per contest, this was Scotland’s best defensive performance of the season in terms of goals allowed. It was also the team’s closest game since their 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Union Pines Vikings back on Oct. 9.

The Scots finish the regular season at 2-12-2 overall and 0-12 in conference games while sitting at seventh place in the conference standings. Their last victory of the regular season was on Aug. 28 at home against the South View Tigers by a score of 5-4. The full regular season schedule and statistics for Scotland can be found on MaxPreps here: Schedule – Scotland Fighting Scots (Laurinburg, NC) Varsity Soccer 24-25 (maxpreps.com). Richmond now stands at 5-13-2 (4-6-1 against conference opponents) on the season with the victory and has one more game on their regular season schedule against Hoke County on Tuesday night.

The men’s soccer conference reporting deadline is at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6 with seeding for the state playoffs taking place the following day on Thursday, Nov. 7. The first round of the tournament will begin two days after that on Saturday, Nov. 9. All important dates for the men’s soccer season going forward can be found on the NCHSAA website here: Men`s Soccer – NCHSAA.