A Falcons First! AC Flora girls soccer wins Class 4A state championship
AC Flora didn’t have many opportunities in Saturday’s girls state soccer championship match but it made the most of them.
Sophomore Samantha Lawther headed in a corner kick in the 58th minute as the Falcons defeated perennial power Bishop England, 1-0, to win the Class 4A Championship at Memorial Stadium.
It is the program’s first championship and just the second title appearance, with the other coming in 2001. The Bishops were going for their 13th state championship, which would have tied them with Riverside for most all-time in girls history. It is their first year in 4A, with the other titles coming in 2A and 3A.
“It feels amazing,” Lawther said. “We have a lineup in our gym of all the state champions and we are going to be up there now. … I think it is going to be a feeling that I am never going to have again.”
“I have been talking to these girls about how do you want to be remembered when you leave this school?” AC Flora coach Eric Navarro said. “I want them to be able to push girls’ soccer to another level and be known throughout the state because now we are 4A champions. It is big for our school and big for our senior girls to make the program bigger.”
The championship came in Navarro’s second season.The Barnwell grad took over the program after spending time as the Falcons’ JV coach and varsity assistant since 2018. Flora enjoyed success the past seven years, not losing a region match, but just couldn’t get over the hump to make it to the state championship.
That changed this year as they won a program-best 27 matches, rolled through the regular season and turned in a dominating defensive performance in the playoffs. The Falcons didn’t allow a goal in five playoff matches, outscoring their opponents, 24-0.
The defense was anchored by sophomore keeper Kennedy Bagley, who made sure Lawther’s goal held up as she turned in an impressive performance in just her second season of playing soccer. Bagley is a volleyball player but came out to play soccer last season.
“I want to grab that kid and give her a big hug. She stepped up big,” Navarro said of Bagley. “We had a conversation at the end of last year. … Throwing her into the goal and playing to that level and getting us to a state championship, to get us being state champions and help us on that journey is amazing.”
Bagley was a member of the junior varsity squad last year before becoming the team’s primary keeper this year. This season, she recorded 21 shutouts and had a 0.33 goals against average.
The Bishops were the quicker team, especially early on, but the Falcons were able to neutralize it at times. When they didn’t, Bagley made up for it. Unofficially, she was credited with 11 saves, including seven in the first half.
“As always, I started off with some nerves. But as soon as the first shot came off, I just wanted them to kick it at me because I knew I could get it,” Bagley said. “Every save, I would get more and more confident. And I didn’t want to lose it for our team and lose it for our seniors. We worked so hard to get there.”
Offensively, AC Flora didn’t create many scoring chances and didn’t have a shot on goal in the first half. But the Falcons seized the opportunity in the second half on a corner kick.
Senior Emma Valdes, the team’s leading scorer, centered a perfect pass to Lawther, who rose up and got her head on it for the game’s lone goal. It was Lawther’s seventh goal of the season and second in the playoffs, with the other coming in the opener against Colleton County.
That was Valdes’ sixth assist of the playoffs to go along with her four goals. AC Flora had only one other shot on goal in the game.
“In the first half, I got a head on the ball and the keeper just barely knocked it,” Lawther said. “But I went up to Emma and told her we almost got that one so let’s go and try and do it again, put it right to my head. That is exactly what we did. I just put a head on it but she made that beautiful corner. It was all Emma Valdes.”
SCHSL Soccer Championships
Thursday
Class A Boys: Dixie 2, Hardeeville 1
Class 2A Girls: Academic Magnet 5, Dixie 0
Class 2A Boys: Academic Magnet 4, Andrew Jackson 1
Friday
Class 3A Girls: Oceanside Collegiate, 3, Christ Church 0
Class 3A Boys: Powdersville 1, Oceanside Collegiate 0
Class 5A Division I Girls: JL Mann 3, Wando 1
Class 5A Division I Boys: JL Mann 5, Ashley Ridge 3
Saturday
Class 5A Division II Girls: Eastside 3, Chapin 2 (OT)
Class 5A Division II Boys: Riverside 3, Lucy Beckham 1
Class 4A Girls: AC Flora 1, Bishop England 0
Class 4A Boys: Bishop England 2, Daniel 1 (OT)
This story was originally published May 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM.
