RICHMOND — The Richmond girls soccer team is back in a familiar place.

Yet again, the Bobcats will play in the Western Class D regional final.

Richmond cruised to a 5-0 win over Buckfield on Friday afternoon in its Western D semifinal contest. The Bobcats will play the winner of the Rangeley/Greenville game for a berth in the Class D state championship game.

“This is my fourth time in a row (at regionals),” senior forward Noell Acord said. “It doesn’t get old.”

The Bobcats (14-0-1) are one game away from making their 12th appearance in a state championship game since Class D soccer was established in 1989. Richmond has won eight Class D titles.

“We’re bringing back a veteran group, and they made the decision early that they wanted to get back (to states),” Richmond coach Troy Kendrick said. “We’ve got some pretty strong seniors, they’re keeping us focused.”

Richmond was paced by the play of sophomore Amber Loon, who scored two goals and had two assists, as well as Acord, who had two goals.

The Bobcats came at the Bucks with a full-on offensive onslaught, moreso in the second half than the first. Loon scored both of her goals in the first half, the first within the first eight minutes to give Richmond a 1-0 lead. She scored her second goal with 10 minutes left in the half off a rebound of a shot by Sadie Gosse.

Both of Loon’s assists came on the next two goals. The first was on a shot from Gosse about 20 yards from the net, the second which came on a crossing pass to Acord in front of the net, which she promptly knocked in with her head, giving Richmond a 4-0 lead.

“When that (ball) hit off my head, I was like, ‘Wow, this feels pretty good,’ ” Acord said.

Acord finished the scoring with 12 minutes left to play, sneaking a shot past Buckfield goalie Arrabine Dunn.

“We had some nice combination play,” Kendrick said. “Some of those kids have been playing for a good number of years. They can link those passes and create some chances.”

The Bucks (8-7-0) played well defensively in the first half, but couldn’t get the ball in the Richmond end. The shot total was clearly in the Bobcats’ favor, out-shooting Buckfield by a 34-2 margin. Dunn was the bright spot for the Bucks, as she made 11 saves.

“(Richmond) is really good, they pass the ball well,” Buckfield coach Travis Magnusson said. “We tried a different gameplan today. We stayed with it for a little bit, but they put so much pressure on you, it’s tough for 80 minutes to do that.”

Dave Dyer — 621-5639

ddyer@centralmaine.com

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