A.C. Flora keeper Kennedy Bagley warms up prior to the April 10 game against Dreher. Bagley has helped the Falcons post 14 of its 16 shut outs so far this year. Photo by Mike Maddock
The A.C. Flora Falcons have enjoyed a very successful season. They are 22-1 overall and earned a Region 3-4A title with a 12-0 record under second year head coach Eric Navarro.
“This season has been a special one,” Navarro said, “to go 22-1 with the type of season where you play different caliber of teams. You travel. You are in different settings, different environments. At any point you could have slipped up, but to go this far in the season, even though we’ve had a few hiccups here and there, we’ve been able to put things together, support each other, and build on all the principals we’ve laid out since preseason conditioning.
“The girls are starting to recognize there is something special going on with this group, with the connection they have. We’ve been trying to do more, be more than just a soccer team and be more than just another season. That’s what we’ve been focusing on. Everybody says they want to be a state champion. Everybody says they want to do something special, but do they put the work in? Even when we came back from Spring Break, the girls had the mindset of refocusing on the season. That’s been great to see with them.”
While Navarro has only been the head coach for two years, he’s been with the A.C. Flora girls soccer program since 2018. He’s served as a junior varsity head coach and as a varsity assistant coach before being promoted to head coach last season. In his first season as head coach, Navarro guided the Falcons to a 17-7 record and an appearance in the 4A quarterfinals. They’ve built on that season with an even more impressive 2025.
The Falcons’ success begins with the defense. In 2024, the Falcons gave up a total of 16 goals. This season that number has been cut to eight through 23 games. While improvement from one year to the next is not uncommon, what’s made A.C. Flora’s case even more impressive is that the Falcons came into the season with a question mark at goalkeeper.
In prior seasons, A.C. Flora has been accustomed to having experienced goalkeepers. Maggie Hamilton manned the post the last two seasons. However, her graduation left a hole. The only available players were sophomore Kennedy Bagley, who had only one season of goalkeeping on the junior varsity level, and Rae Daetwyler, who was the goalkeeper of the B-Team last year. Kennedy won the job and has taken the reigns throughout the season. She has accounted for 14 of the Falcons’ 16 shutouts, has a 0.361 goals against average, and has only allowed more than one goal in a game once. She is joined defensively by Samantha Lawther, Laura Boggs, Rachel Britt, Hayden Rowe, and North-South Classic selection Addie Coffer.
Offensively, the Falcons scored 120 goals in 2024. They may surpass that this year as they have 119 goals with one regular season game remaining and the postseason. Emma Valdes has taken a big step forward improving from 10 goals and 11 assists last year to 27 goals and 24 assists this year, leading the team in both categories. She’s been selected to the Clash of the Carolinas. Mary Elizabeth Riddle has scored 20 goals and added eight assists. Ashlynn Capell has been a consistent presence in the midfield. Liza Stavrou, 15 goals and 18 assists, and Coles Milliken, 18 goals and two assists, have impacted the A.C. Flora offense as well.
The Falcons will close the regular season with a trip to Chapin, the only team A.C. Flora has lost to this season. Then the Falcons will have their eyes set on the playoffs.
“If you are 22-1 and your only loss is a one goal loss that happened in the last ten minutes of that game and you’ve been able to face every challenge and mostly succeed in all of them, why would you change?” Navarro said. “It’s the playoffs. Let’s be focused and do our jobs. Let’s do what we’ve been doing all season. There is no reason to change. There is a little more weight to every touch, but in the end, if we play the way we’ve been playing against all these other teams, we’ll be good to go.”
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