West soccer finishes as 4A state runners-up

Feb. 19—The West Lauderdale girls soccer team's hopes for back-to-back state championships were dashed on Saturday as Sumrall edged the Lady Knights 2-1 in overtime to capture the MHSAA Class 4A state championship.

"I was proud of the girls and proud of how hard they worked. I thought they did a really good job," said coach Brandon Rodgers.

West Lauderdale faced a tough opponent in Sumrall, ranked first in the state in 4A, and even tougher weather conditions as it turned out to be a cold, blustery game at Ridgeland High School.

Sumrall scored first in the 18th minute with a goal by Rylee Kirkland on a pass from Ashton Stringfellow. Neither team scored for the remainder of the half. But with the wind to their backs, West Lauderdale quickly tied the game 34 seconds into the second half when Aubri Cooper converted the penalty after Sumrall was called for a foul inside the 18-yard box.

"The weather played a big part in it. For the first half, we were playing into the wind, so it was tough to really get anything going," Rodgers said. "... In the second half, we were able to come out and get a quick early goal off a penalty kick."

He said West Lauderdale had a few other good chances to score but was unable to find the net.

The Lady Knights and the Bobcats remained tied 1-1 at the end of regulation play. With both teams playing good defensive games, the score remained unchanged throughout the first 10-minute overtime. But in the second 10 minutes of overtime, Sumrall's Addie Siders scored on a free kick with just seconds remaining to give the Bobcats their first ever state title in their first state championship appearance.

"Going into the last minute of overtime, it looked like we were about to head into a golden goal situation, but we gave up a free kick just outside the penalty box that they ended up putting away with 30 seconds left," Rodgers said.

Since 2016, West Lauderdale girls have played in eight of the nine state championship games, winning the title five times, including in 2023.

"Technically, this was probably a rebuilding year," Rodgers said of his team, which lost eight starting seniors from last year's squad. "But, I thought we did really well this year, and I think there's a lot of pieces in place to make another run at things next year."

Some had counted West Lauderdale out for a return to the state championship game after a few struggles early on in the season as Rodgers looked to find his starting 11. Then junior Anna Vincent, a starting midfielder from last season, went out for the season with an ACL injury.

While missing out on a state title was disappointing, the girls said they are pleased to claim 4A state runners-up, a finish West Lauderdale has earned three times since 2016.

"All of us had never played together on the field at the same time before, so those first games were hard. We didn't have everything figured out yet, but every game we got a little bit better," said senior defender Ella Morse, who missed the first part of the season due to several compression fractures to her vertebrae she suffered in a car accident.

"I couldn't have asked for a better year. I would almost say that I am more proud of this team than every team before, because on every team before we already knew we had a good shot at going to the state championship," she said. "Everybody on the team equally put in enough effort to get us there this year. We weren't relying on a few good players, everyone had a part in helping us get this far."

Morse, who has signed to continue her soccer career at East Mississippi Community College, also gave credit to Rodgers.

"Coach Brandon worked all year to find the winning combination and to encourage girls who had never played together to play as a team, and he led us to the state championship," she said.

For West Lauderdale's goalkeeper, junior Haley Graham, the season proved challenging as she stepped back into goal after playing on the field for the last couple of years.

"I hadn't trained in goal for roughly a year, so making that change from a field player to a goalkeeper was rough, and the mentality wasn't there at first," Graham said. "I didn't want to do it because it's just not my passion; I mean I wanted to be a field player. But, I knew I had to do it for my team."

Her experience was one of the strengths for the West Lauderdale team as Graham tallied 12 saves in goal during Saturday's game.

She said there had been a lot of talk early on that West Lauderdale wouldn't make it to the state championship game this year or that it just wasn't the team's year, especially after finishing third in district.

"After winning the Caledonia game (in round two), I think a lot of the girls knew that we had a really good chance of winning," she said.

With the team only losing four seniors from this year's squad and many of the younger players getting a lot of playing time and experience this year, Graham has high hopes for next season.

"I think we will be right back where we were (Saturday) and I think we will have a better chance," she said.

Coach Brandon agreed.

"I am super proud of the girls. They faced a lot of adversity during the year with injuries and looking to replace the eight seniors we lost last year," he said. "I think they've done a great job and have come a long way from where we started and where we finished up. Just looking forward to next year and what this group can accomplish."

West Lauderdale finished the season 17-6-2.

Contact Glenda Sanders at gsanders@themeridianstar.com.