PREP ROUNDUP: Saint Stephen's boys soccer team falls in regional semis

BRADENTON — Blake Hoonhour took a seat on the bench for the start of Monday night’s match against St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep.

It was not long before the Saint Stephen’s Episcopal boys soccer coach was standing on top of the bench.

The Chargers got his attention early with an attack that led to a shot 45 seconds into the match.

Hoonhout’s Falcons were under siege for most of the evening. Shorecrest tallied twice in the first half and three times in the second half to take a 5-1 victory over Saint Stephen’s on Monday night in the Class 2A-Region 3 semifinal at Moore Athletic Complex at Turner Fields.

“You meet a team that is strong, experienced and with good leadership, an old coach said you learn when you lose and we learned a lot of lessons tonight,” Hoonhout said. “It’s painful. We have to play and not make mistakes.”

Five different Chargers scored goals before the second-seeded Falcons (13-5) ended the evening on a high note. Senior Jack Holmes sent a perfect cross to the middle of the net where senior Alexander Slowik contorted his neck to head the ball in to spoil the visitor’s shutout.

Third-seeded Shorecrest Prep (11-5-1) plays Wednesday at top-seed Fort Myers Canterbury in the regional final. The Cougars are 12-0 at home. On an eight-match winning streak, Canterbury (16-6-2) has won its first two regional matches by a combined 12-0.

Saint Stephen’s takeaways

• It was the second straight year the Falcons made it to the regional semifinals. Last year Saint Stephen’s lost 2-0 to Bradenton Christian at home.

• Saint Stephen’s graduates six seniors: Christopher Fields, Holmes, Slowik, Colin Kiernan, Shaiming Lu and Charles Sherrill. “That’ll be painful,” Hoonhout said. “I’ve known them for eight years when I coached them in middle school.”

• Ranked 94th in the state and fourth in Class 2A, The Falcons had a four-match winning streak snapped during which time they had outscored their opponents 14-2. The five goals allowed tied a season-high. Saint Stephen’s also permitted five in a 5-2 loss to Clearwater Central Catholic. The Falcons took 12 shots, nine on goal. Starting goalie junior Paul Yin made four saves and allowed four goals. Freshman Austin Varga came on and made one save while allowing the final goal.

Shorecrest Prep takeaways

• Alex Wisotsky, Max Warburton, Caden Ryan, Braeden Wright and Noah Allen all scored for the Chargers.

• Ranked 104th in the state and sixth in Class 2A, Shorecrest Prep has won five straight, outscoring their opponents 26-2 during the streak.

• Freshman Nico Crespo-Gonzalez opened in goal for Shorecrest Prep and made nine saves. He was replaced briefly by JT Thomas after being shaken up late in the second half before returning.

GIRLS TENNIS

Venice 6, Out-of-Door 1

AT: Venice

SINGLES — Christine Wu (V) def. Sophie Bose 6-1, 6-0; Adela Piskor (V) def. Alicia Vieira 6-4, 2-6, 12-10; Tess Tchorbadjiev (V) def. Charley Hunn 6-2, 6-4; Reagan Graham (ODA) def. Kenzie DeLong 6-2, 6-1; Giselle Noriega (V) def. Sydney Graham 6-1, 6-1

DOUBLES — Mikayla Faure/Tchorbadjiev (V) def. Bose/Vieira 4-0, 4-1; #2 Sophia Teijelo/DeLong (V) def. Hunn/R. Graham 4-2, 4-1

RECORDS: Venice (3-0), ODA (2-1)

NEXT: Venice at North Port on Wednesday

BOYS TENNIS

Venice 7, Out-of-Door 0

SINGLES — Bryan Cierniak (V) def. Cash Murphy 6-3, 7-5; Aravind Rajeev (V) def. Thomas Vicente 6-0, 6-0; Andrej Andelkovic (V) def. Max Murphy 6-2, 6-0; Simon Ayer (V) def. Sebastian Sanandres 6-0, 6-0; Hayden Guthrie (V) def. Thomas Pennie 6-0, 6-3

DOUBLES — Cierniak/Pranav Mayor (V) def. C. Murphy/Sanandres 4-1, 4-0; Evan VanBuskirk/Ayer (V) def. Vicente/M. Murphy 0-4, 4-1, 10-6

RECORDS: Venice (2-1) ODA (1-2)

NEXT: Venice at North Port on Wednesday

Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: PREP ROUNDUP: Saint Stephen's boys soccer team falls in regional semis