A.C. Flora wins boys lacrosse playoff opener

In the first round of the state playoffs, A.C. Flora routed Socastee 15-4 at C.F. Bolden Stadium on Tuesday.

“We were familiar with this team, so we knew what their strengths were,” said A.C. Flora coach Mickey Purdy of his team’s offense, “and we knew what our strengths were, and we were able to do what we wanted to do from the beginning.”

The Falcons went on the attack immediately and were rewarded with a goal from Jack Adams near the start.

“Every team in the playoffs is good,” Purdy said, “and we have to be ready to play from the beginning, and we were.

“I think we scored with five seconds into the game. That’s what we wanted to do. We set the tone, scored early goals.

“The second quarter was not really what we wanted, but we did get it back under control and gained a good lead.”

Matt Balance’s goal gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead less than three minutes in, and Fletcher Hardee followed with a goal 30 seconds later.

Seven minutes were gone before Socastee got its first shot off, and A.C. Flora goalie Shaun Merrit notched the first of his five saves.

The Falcons took over again, as Adams and George King posted goals to make it 5-0 after one quarter.

In a flurry of second quarter offense, Socastee got on the board when Nick Boriello parlayed an intercepted pass into a goal two minutes into the period.

Robie Hanes followed with a goal to narrow the gap to three. But Hardee and Ike McIntosh scored for an 8-2 A.C. Flora lead at the half.

The Falcons got four goals each from Hardee and King, three from Adams, and four assists from Frank Peacock.

Nick Boriello notched two second half goals for the Braves.

“We’re proud of that because he’s an up-and-coming player that we want to see do good things,” Purdy said.

The Falcons, the No. 2 seed, will host the Bishop England-Hilton Head winner on Thursday.

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 12:08 AM with the headline "A.C. Flora wins boys lacrosse playoff opener."