Falcons advance to semifinals

BRADENTON — Bill Unzicker sensed some anxiety in his soccer players Wednesday afternoon.

It had less to do with where his Saint Stephen’s Falcons were — the Class 2A-Region 3 quarterfinals — and more with how they got there.

En route to winning the District 10 title last week, the Falcons were blanked in the first half. Consequently, they were an anxious bunch Wednesday against Largo Indian Rocks Christian.

Then Alyssa Falkner put one in, and things fell into place, as Saint Stephen’s won 5-1 and will face Tampa Prep in Tuesday’s semifinals.

“We started off very fast, in the terms of the speed and play that we had,” Unzicker said. “The anxiety and the anxiousness was there.”

Less than a minute after Falkner scored, Amy Ivin took a textbook cross from Alyssa Allen and gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 19:30 remaining in the first half.

“The second goal was pure patience,” Unzicker said. “It was going to happen, and they took their time and made it happen instead of boom-boom-boom rushing. ... It just kind of built from there.”

Falkner was one of the chief reasons it did. She added another goal just before the half by booting in a rebound, then scored from more than 15 yards out less than a minute after halftime.

Hannah Howell added the final goal for Saint Stephen’s (18-3).

Jensen Eifert scored the only goal for Indian Rocks Christian (10-8).

Players such as Falkner, a junior, were at no loss for motivation — Saint Stephen’s has been to the regional finals the past two years but hasn’t made the state final four.

“We want it more than anything,” Falkner said. “It would mean so much for us to be able to go. Our goal this year, we want to make it all the way to state.

“We take every game as it comes. We put everything we’ve got into every single game, so we just come out and give our hardest every time.”

The Falcons have two seniors on the roster — Ivin, who scored her 100th career goal during the regular season, and Brooke Cornetet — which helps up the motivation factor.

“Right now, that’s one of our motivations,” Falkner said. “Our captains, they’re both seniors. We play for them, we play for the team, and if we lose, we’re out, so it could be their last game.”

That said, Unzicker was happy with the start of the Falcons’ march.

“We told them at this stage, you lose, you’re out,” he said. “We told them at the start of the second half, ‘They’re going to come at you the first 10 minutes. We need to score first.’ And they responded.”