Five first-half goals propel Kickers into tie for first

For 45 boisterous minutes, the Richmond Kickers lived high on the hog.

To be exact, they lived high on the Bermuda Hogges.

The Kickers, scoring almost at will, filled the Bermuda net with five first-half goals en route to a 7-2 runaway in last night's USL-2 match at UR Stadium.

The triumph, the Kickers' fourth in their past five games, improved their record to 7-2-5 and lifted them into a tie for first place with the Harrisburg Islanders.

The Hogges, USL-2's eighth-place club, jolted the Kickers with a 1-0 upset when these two clubs met two months ago in Bermuda. But this time the Kickers were dominant from the beginning.

"We're growing and improving all the time," said Kickers midfielder Luke Vercollone. "We've come a long way" since the May 9 loss in Bermuda. "Being at the top of the table is nice. It's encouraging, definitely. But that doesn't mean we're entirely satisfied. As far as we've come, there's still a long way to go."

Bermuda might disagree. At times, the Hogges seemed as overmatched as a dandelion against a Weedwhacker. Forwards David Bulow and Matthew Delicate each scored twice for Richmond. Delicate also earned an assist. Midfielder Mike Burke collected his first goal and fifth assist of the season.

Delicate and Burke combined to produce a worth-the-price-of-admission goal in the 13th minute. Burke sent a 24-yard free kick curling toward the goalmouth from the left side. Delicate, flashing across the goalkeeper's box from the right side, met the ball in full stride and with a deft nod of his head redirected it past Hogges goalkeeper Jason William.

"You're going to be very pleased, obviously, anytime you put seven goals on the board against anybody," Delicate said. "But it's important, I think, that we keep our feet on the ground. There are still things we can improve on. We're not there yet."

No one argued. The Kickers pushed their advantage to 6-0 on Chris Carrieri's goal in the 51st minute but sagged -- predictably, perhaps -- thereafter. Much of the final 35 minutes was played in Richmond's defensive zone. Bermuda (4-10-2) collected its first goal on a charitable whistle that produced a penalty kick in the 61st minute. It scored again 12 minutes later.

"Quite honestly, I was disappointed in our defensive effort throughout," Kickers coach Leigh Cowlishaw said. He excused his club for Bermuda's first goal. "Clearly it wasn't a penalty," he said. He did not excuse prior or subsequent transgressions.

"We could have let in goals all day long," he said. "It was not what I'd call a great [defensive] performance on our part. We weren't professional enough, we weren't clinical enough, in front of the goal."

The Kickers have scored 13 goals and allowed but five while going 4-0-1 in their past five games. Even so, Cowlishaw said, "We haven't reached our peak yet. We need to keep pushing to try to make that happen."

Strenuous pushing might be necessary. Last night's game was Richmond's last USL-2 home match until Aug. 1. Richmond visits Crystal Palace Baltimore next Saturday. It then faces back-to-back games that likely will decide the regular-season title: at third-place Wilmington on July 22 and at Harrisburg on July 29.

Bermuda ------------------------- 0 2 -- 2
Richmond ------------------------- 5 2 -- 7

Scoring -- 1, Richmond, Bulow 8 (Gorres), 8th minute; 2, Richmond, Delicate 8 (Burke), 13th; 3, Richmond, Bulow 9, 14th; 4, Richmond, Burke 1, 26th; 5, Richmond, Hunter 1 (Vercollone), 32nd; 6, Richmond, Carrieri 1 (Delicate), 51st; 7, Bermuda, Holder 2, penalty kick, 61st; 8, Bermuda, Smith 1 (Ming), 73rd; 9, Richmond, Delicate 9, penalty kick, 81st.

Shots: Richmond 12-7

Saves: Bermuda, William 4; Richmond, Pascale 3

Corner kicks: Bermuda 7-5

Offsides: Richmond 4-2

Fouls: Richmond 10-9

Yellow cards: Cox, B, 13th; Kalungi, R, 77th; Peniston, B, 81st

Referee: Kai Goodrich

Attendance: 2,464