West Lauderdale came into Saturday’s soccer match against Pass Christian knowing it was going to be short-handed with leading scorer Riley Thompson out of town.

But that didn’t seem to matter much to Jada Smith and the rest of the Lady Knights.

Smith scored three goals, two on penalty kicks, as the Lady Knight suffocated visiting Pass Christian 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state soccer playoffs.

With the win, the Lady Knights improve to 19-2 on the season and will face Northeast Jones for a third time this season on Monday night.

“I thought the girls did a good job of concentrating on what they had to do today,” West coach Alex George said. “We knew we would be a little short-handed without Riley here but I thought the rest of the team stepped up and did what they had to do. We made the shots we had to make when we got the opportunity.”

The Lady Knights struck first with a little more than seven minutes going as freshman Jada Smith was tackled in the box and awarded a penalty kick.

Smith nailed the penalty kick in the left side of the net for a quick 1-0 lead for the lead for the Lady Knights.

It didn’t take long for Pass Christian to answer with a penalty kick of its own. West was whistled for the foul and Pass Christian’s Regen McGee easily rolled in the penalty kick in the goal to tie the score up at 1-1.

With 21:40 left in the first half, Smith was sent to the sidelines with a yellow card. She didn’t stay long and with 15:40 left in the half, Smith found the goal again, this time taking the ball on the left side and going cross corner to the right side of the goal for a 2-1 West Lauderdale lead.

West quickly gained control of the ball again and less than a minute later, Smith was fouled in the box again and awarded a second penalty kick. This one she banged in the top right corner of the net for 3-1 West Lauderdale lead with 14:41 left to play.

“I thought we did a good job of controlling the ball,” George said. “We are a possession team and considering the conditions, I thought we did a good job of keepign the ball limiting them. Our defense did a good job of limiting them. We knew they had two or three players we really had to press and I thought we did that.”

The Lady Knights added to their lead about 10 minutes deep in the second half. While the Lady Knights had controlled the ball in their territory for most of the half, it finally paid off as Ember Temple took a cross and nailed it in the back of the net for a 4-1 lead. The goal was Green’s second of the season.

The Lady Knights now advance to the 4A semifinals on Monday against Northeast Jones, a team they have beaten 3-1 and 2-1 this season.

“We know a lot about Northeast Jones and their tendencies,” George said. “Of course that can work either way. We have to stay focused on what we are doing and not take anything for granted. It’s tough to beat a team three times in one season. But we will have Riley back on Monday and that should help.”