As Green Hope coach Andrew Chadwick put it, soccer can be a funny game sometimes. Although the Falcons didn’t control the ball as long in the second half as they did in the first, that’s when Green Hope was able to take advantage of opportunities on offense.

When a 1-1 stalemate with Sanderson in the second half threatened to ruin their unblemished record, the Falcons capitalized on the few chances they had, putting away two of their shots on goals to give them a 3-1 win Thursday night.

We didn’t have as much possession in the second half, but that’s when we scored,” Chadwick said.

He added: “I was more concerned about the missed opportunities, because eventually your time and luck will run out and eventually you won’t have opportunities.”

Fortunately for the Falcons, they didn’t run out of scoring chances.

Green Hope grabbed the lead in the 54th minute when senior forward Stephen Clowes bicycle-kicked it with his right foot as he was falling down on his left side.

“That’s the kind of ball you dream about being able to put away,” Clowes said.

He’d get another chance later in the half, sending a rocket-shot to the Sanderson keeper. The shot deflected, but teammate Justin Taylor was there to volley the rebound to the back of the net.

It was the senior midfielder’s second goal of the game. Taylor broke the ice in the 17th minute, snagging a ball right in front of the Spartan goalie and tipping it in for the Falcons.

Sanderson answered 13 minutes later, when a high-arching ball landed in front of midfielder Glenn Scott, who slipped it past the Green Hope keeper to even things up at 1-1 heading into the break.

“Coach gave us a good halftime speech that we had to find our inner desire to win and we sure did that,” Taylor said.

And with five wins and no losses or ties under their belts, the Falcons are set to begin Tri-Eight conference play with some momentum.

“Winning always makes you feel more confident going into Tri-Eight play,” Taylor said.