West Lauderdale girls soccer seniors Kristen Phillips and Bailee Fairley led the Knights’ offense all season, and they were rewarded for their hard work on Saturday.

They scored two goals apiece to help the Knights secure their fifth MHSAA 4A State Championship with a 5-0 win over Stone at Brandon High School. Fairley was named MVP of the game, while Phillips set West Lauderdale’s single season goal record (44) with her final goal as a Knight.

Phillips got the Knights on the board in the first half by sinking a penalty kick into the bottom left corner of the goal. West Lauderdale went into halftime up just one goal, but the Knights lit up the scoreboard in the second half after dominating time of possession in the first.

West Lauderdale coach Brandon Rodgers said moved some players to different positions, but he did not make many other strategic changes once the Knights took a lead. That proved to be the right decision, as the Knights possessed the ball for much of the second half while preventing Stone from getting off many shots.

Four minutes into the second half, Phillips scored her 44th goal of the season to set a new West Lauderdale record. Stone’s goalie tried to fall on the ball as Phillips got off a shot, but Phillips tapped the ball right past the charging goalkeeper and into the net.

Fairley got her first goal ten minutes later with a powerful shot into the top right corner of the goal that put the Knights up 3-0. The Knights quickly regained possession and advanced the ball deep into Stone territory less than two minutes later.

Fairley took possession, reversed field to create space from her defender, and fired a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to extend the Knights’ lead further. The West Lauderdale senior fell one goal short of a hat trick, but her on-target passes and her powerful leg made her an offensive threat all afternoon.

Alexa Shirley, another West Lauderdale senior, scored her final goal for the Knights after the ball bounced off the goal post and landed in front of the net. The initial shot attempt forced the Stone goalkeeper to leave the goal, and Shirley ran in to kick the ball over a diving defender and into the net.

Shirley’s goal put the Knights up 5-0 with five minutes left to play, and fellow West Lauderdale senior Anna Kate Humphries kept the goal clean until the clock ran out to give West Lauderdale a fifth state championship in eight years. West Lauderdale wrapped the season 14-5-1 with the victory in the state championship.

Humphries did not allow a ball to get past her in any of the Knights’ four playoff games, and the Knights wrapped up the postseason with a 19-0 combined scoring differential over their opponents. Fairley and Phillips also scored twice in the Knights’ 5-0 victory over New Albany that put West Lauderdale in the championship game.

Rodgers, a first-year coach at West Lauderdale, will lose eight seniors to graduation after winning a state championship in his first season with the Knights. West Lauderdale will have a significantly different team next season, and new Knights will have to step up to replace key pieces lost at goalie, on defense and on offense.