CLARKDALE — For nearly 60 minutes, the speedy Kristen Phillips had breakaway after breakaway but couldn’t finish the job as the Northeast Jones goalkeeper continually blocked her shots.

But with 21 minutes left and down by a goal, the Clarkdale freshman sprinted to a loose ball, and finding just the keeper in front of her, completed the breakaway this time by firing in a shot.

Just over a minute later, Phillips did it again, scoring a second breakaway goal to give the Lady Bulldogs the lead, which they maintained to come through with a 2-1 win over the Lady Tigers Monday.

“In that second half, I started getting a little worried. It just seemed like everything we were throwing at the keeper, she was saving,” Clarkdale head coach Brandon Rodgers said. “I knew if we kept getting chances, kept shooting, something would eventually fall.” 

For 27 minutes, Northeast Jones clung to a 1-0 lead. With six minutes left in the first half, a foul called on Clarkdale inside the box gave Brooklynn Henley a penalty kick. Lady Bulldogs goalie Katie Smith guessed correctly by diving to the right to stop the shot, but Henley’s attempt sailed over her for the score. 

Phillips collided with a defender trying to score with less than 24 minutes to play in the first half and fell to the ground with the wind knocked out of her. She stayed in the contest, however, and continued her attacks on goal until finally knocking in two.    

“I didn’t get down about it. I got more confident,” she said. “I didn’t let the team down, because they look up to me to score.”

Clarkdale (4-3-1) battered Northeast Jones (4-2-1) with 28 shots and kept the pressure on with eight corner kicks. Danielle Flynt made 13 saves for the Lady Tigers, whose penalty kick goal was their only shot on goal of the game. They finished with six total shots.

“They showed some resolve. They kept pressing,” Rodgers said. “It was just one of those games where things didn’t really want to go our way. We kept having to press forward and finally got a couple goals in the second half.”   

NORTHEAST JONES 5, CLARKDALE BOYS 2

Clarkdale had a lead for all of 30 seconds as Northeast Jones quickly equalized the game before its midpoint, then dominated the second half to come away with a 5-2 road victory Monday.

With one starter out with an injury and another out of town, a short-handed Bulldogs squad conceded a goal in the contest’s opening minute when Kaydon Howard fed a pass to Jason Garcia, who put the ball in the back of the net to put the Tigers ahead early.

Clarkdale (3-5-1) eventually responded when Paxton Anders scored on an assist from Cameron Garrett with six minutes left in the first half. Isaiah Rios then gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead only two minutes later when he lifted a shot that sailed into the goal from well outside the box.

The Tigers tied the game at 2-2 with three and a half minutes to play before Alex Gonzalez opened the second half with a right-to-left shot to regain the lead with less than 38 minutes left.

DJ Allard tallied a goal four minutes later, and Garcia scored his second goal off a penalty kick with 18 1/2 to play to give Northeast Jones a three-goal cushion.   

“They just stepped up the intensity. They’re a very good team,” Clarkdale head coach Luke Smith said. “Once we got (ahead), their competitive nature took over, and they just put the pedal to the floor, and we couldn’t stop them.”

The Bulldogs had several plays at the net in the final 10 minutes and spent the majority of that time in enemy territory. They finished with 11 shots, four on target. Goalkeeper Kodee Connor made five saves at net. 

“Generally, the end of games is when we’ve been struggling a lot,” Smith said. “So it’s nice to see, even when we’re down three goals, that people are still giving the effort, still giving everything they’ve got to try and get at least one or two goals back.”  

The Clarkdale boys and girls teams will travel to Morton Dec. 2.