Alice Williamson had a hat trick for top-ranked West Lauderdale as the Lady Knights blanked Clarkdale 8-0 Tuesday evening in prep soccer action at Clarkdale.

Williamson scored goals in the seventh, 25th and 72nd minute of play, and Jada Smith and Ember Temple also had goals in the first half to give West Lauderdale a 4-0 lead at the break. Temple scored another goal late in the second half, and Bailee Fairley and Railey Mayatt also had goals to round out West Lauderdale’s scoring. All four second-half goals for West Lauderdale came with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.

The game between Clarkdale and West Lauderdale had to be rescheduled twice due to wet weather affecting the field at Clarkdale.

“We’re in a pretty good place right now,” West Lauderdale coach Alex George said. “We knocked the ball around really well in the first half I thought. It’s cold, so we came out a little stagnant in the second half, but I think we started connecting the dots a little better midway through the second half. It was a good game, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to play them in this makeup game. It’s good to play rather than just practice.”

Clarkdale head coach Brandon Rodgers said West Lauderdale is the type of team his girls need to play to help prepare them for the playoffs in a few weeks.

“It helps us tremendously,” Rodgers said. “This is the best team in the state right now, and it gives us an opportunity to play at a high intensity and at a high level against a team that’s sharp, and it makes us have to improve our game.”

Rodgers also said he was pleased with keeper Katie Smith’s play. Smith had several athletic saves in the game before numerous shots on goal by West Lauderdale eventually took their toll.

“She’s doing a tremendous job in there,” Rodgers said. “She’s only an eighth grader, but she’s playing big back there and doing all that we could ask from her.”

The win improved West Lauderdale to 17-0-3 on the season. Since coming back from Christmas break, the Lady Knights have faced two strong opponents in non-divisional play in Clarkdale and Brandon (a 2-1 win on Jan. 8), and George said it’s nice having good teams not too far away to help prepare his team for the postseason.

“It’s really big,” George said. “Last week with Brandon, that was a really good game for us, because it was a playoff atmosphere. Right now, we want to keep everything moving forward and just continue to build off what we’re doing one game at a time.”

Clarkdale (16-5-1) secured its second straight Region 5-1/2/3A title Monday with a 4-0 win over Morton. The Lady Bulldogs are unbeaten against divisional competition at 5-0, and Rodgers said it’s always a good thing to have home field advantage for the postseason.

“We were pleased to clinch last night and wanted to put ourselves in a position to where we’re hosting the first round here at Clarkdale and have a chance to advance from there,” Rodgers said. “It’s nice (to repeat). That’s one of the goals we always set at the beginning of the year, to make sure we put down that we want to win the district title.”

WEST LAUDERDALE 7, CLARKDALE BOYS 0

Jack Green had a hat trick plus one for the Knights as they completed the week of Clarkdale Tuesday evening.

McClinton’s first goal came in the 25th minute off an assist by Chance Davidson to give West Lauderdale an early 1-0 lead. Green scored the Knights’ second goal with less than 10 minutes to go before the half as West Lauderdale took a 2-0 advantage into the break.

In the second half, Green added three more goals to his total, and Daniel Galvin and Brooks Hull also found the back of the net. 

West Lauderdale (15-5-2) will play at Quitman Friday, while Clarkdale (7-11-4) travels to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Thursday.