Saint Stephen's beats ODA in district finale behind Antonio Colacci hat trick

SARASOTA -- Saint Stephen's senior Antonio Colacci said he would like to come back for another season.

You can bet the house everyone connected with the Out-Of-Door-Academy boys soccer program is glad it's not going to happen.

The midfielder scored three goals Friday night in the Falcons' 3-0 Class 1A-District 7 victory over host ODA.

It was the Falcons fifth straight district championship and 17th under head coach Marc Jones, who has been running the program for 23 years.

"We've got continuity and great leadership from players like Antonio and Jon Boyd and Alex

Virgilio and they are a great example for our young players," Jones said. "Our younger players aspire to be the next Antonio Colaccio or the next Jon Boyd or Alex Virgilio so they make my job easy."

Showing his ball skills, field vision and strong leg by firing in a second-half shot from more than 20 yards out, Colaccio was more than ODA could handle.

"I don't know any keeper in high school that would've saved that ball," ODA head

coach George Leicht said. "He bent it in real nice. It was a great shot."

Headed for the University of New Hampshire, Colaccio just wants to keep the season going as long as possible,

"I wish I could stay another year. It's going to be sad leaving my friends and family and now the only thing that matters is winning a state championship," Colaccio said.

Colaccio scored his first goal early in the match on a penalty kick and added his second in the 28th minute off a corner kick.

"I am just trying to help my team. I don't care if I score. I just want to play well to help my teammates," Colaccio said. "I usually assist people and control the tempo of the game, that's my job."

Colaccio started at Saint Stephen's, left in the eighth grade and played for Braden River before returning to play for the Falcons prior to his junior season.

"I came here because I went here in the past and wanted to come back. I've known coach Jones since I was 7 years old and had to play for him again," Colaccio said.

ODA (4-12-1) did a good job of holding Saint Stephen's in check for most of the first half except for Colaccio's goals, but couldn't get anything going offensively and had only two shots on goal.

"Overall we played as a unit and played hard," Leicht said. "We knew it was going to be a tough match and defensively had to match up against their offensive attack and we did well. Their second goal was just a miscommunication between our goalie and defender. You take away those two goals and it's a game still. We had a couple of opportunities to score and just couldn't connect."

Jones lauded Colaccio for his outstanding play, but admitted it's something he expects.

"Antonio is a key component of our team and he stepped up for us," Jones said. "We have a lot of respect for ODA. We were expecting a battle and that's what they gave us. We had to play our best to come out with the win."

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Saint Stephen's beats ODA in district finale behind Antonio Colacci hat trick ."