West Lauderdale’s Anna Aviles slides in to kick the ball away from Northeast Jones’ Kennedy Parish Tuesday night during the North State championship.

COLLINSVILLE — You almost have to wonder if the West Lauderdale girls soccer players secretly enjoy playing on a muddy field.

Sure, the conditions during the course of play force them to adjust their game plan, but following a win, they all get to run and slide in the mud in celebration. There was plenty to celebrate Tuesday, when the Lady Knights topped Northeast Jones 6-1 in the MHSAA Class 4A North State title game, punching their ticket to the Class 4A championship Saturday at Brandon High School.

“It’s fun,” senior Farrah Williamson said, her soccer uniform covered almost entirely with mud. “It’s another way we can bond as a team, and it also makes crazy memories with the pictures we have.”

West Lauderdale took a 3-1 lead into the half and pulled away in the final 40 minutes to advance to the Class 4A championship for the third year in a row. The Lady Knights (22-1-2) will face Florence Saturday for the title.

“Better than expected,” West Lauderdale girls coach Alex George said. “Considering the field conditions we played through, I think we dealt with that and turned out OK. We got a lead on them and gave up that one (goal), but we kept everything calm, and I felt like we stayed composed.”

In fact, George said he was proud of his girls for performing so well on such a field where several days of rain took their toll.

“Honestly, it takes everything you taught all year and trashes it,” George said of playing in the mud. “We’re used to playing on the deck and fast, and we play really connected, so tonight we had to play a little more direct and try to body up on their back line. At times, we would connect some good passes, but (Northeast Jones) made a good move when they put Esmeralda Figueroa — who’s a really good player who I can’t say enough about how she played — in the back to try to contain us a little bit.”

Williamson, though, said they were ready for the muddy conditions due to their practice sessions at Okattibbee Lake.

“It’s very swamp-like, so practicing on that field and then coming out here, it helps us adjust,” George said. “Our speed of play is obviously very quick, and playing on turf, we’re able to do that better, but with the mud, it’s easier for us to accommodate it because of our practice field.”

Lucy Green scored West Lauderdale’s first goal in the 16th minute, and Ember Temple made it 2-0 West Lauderdale a minute later with her first goal of the night. Northeast Jones scored its only goal of the game when a hand ball by West Lauderdale gave Ana Mize a penalty kick, which found the back of the net to cut West Lauderdale’s lead to 2-1. The Lady Knights scored one more goal in the 34th minute when Green scored her second goal off an assist by Anna Claire Nance.

In the second half, Temple, Jada Smith and Bailee Fairley each scored a goal for West Lauderdale.

Williamson, the team’s lone senior, will be looking to earn her third state title in as many years Saturday, and she said she’s just happy to be experiencing it with the rest of her teammates.

“It’s everything,” Williamson said. “That’s your goal whenever you’re playing soccer, and being with our team is really fun.”

Saturday’s game will also be a revenge game of sorts, as Florence is the only team to have beaten West Lauderdale this season. The Lady Eagles topped West Lauderdale 1-0 during a weekend tournament back in December.

“We’re prepared now,” Williamson said. “We got really complacent with all of the rankings and everything, but now we’re back on our game, and we’ve been clicking.”

Like Williamson, George said he feels good about where his team is heading into Saturday’s contest. It’s also nice to know Brandon has a turf field, so mud won’t be an issue again even if it does rain between now and Saturday.

“It’s roughly two months since we played Florence, and at this point we’re doing a lot of things really well,” George said. “No. 1, we’re putting up a lot of goals late in the season, which you can’t complain about. It is what it is, it’s a game, and we can’t make it any bigger than it is. Florence has a good team, and we’re going to have to stay really composed. We will be playing on a nice, dry surface, which plays to our advantage, but at the same time, we’re going to have to stay really connected Saturday.”

Northeast Jones ended its season with a 18-5-2 record.