Lady Arrows fall to NWR in State Championship game
By Danny C. Davis
After another stellar season, the defending state champion Clinton High School Lady Arrows soccer team fell just short to North West Rankin Lady Cougars 2-1 in the 2024 Class 7A Girls State Championship game at Ridgeland on February 17. CHS finished the season 15-5-2.
Just a year ago, the Lady Arrows won their first MHSAA state championship since 1997, with a 1-0 win over Gulfport. Clinton fell 2-0 in the finals in 2022 to Northwest Rankin.
Northwest defeated Clinton 1-0 during the regular season at Clinton, and again it came down to a single goal difference.
The score was tied 0-0 at the half and for the first 25 minutes of the second half, when NWR scored at the 65-minute mark. The Lady Cougars went up 2-0 on a goal at the 68-minute mark.
Clinton’s Isabel Jones, a junior, scored on a 20-yard shot at the 70-minute mark to make it a one-point game, 2-1.
“The shot when I hit it just gave everybody a little more hope we could still come back,” said Jones.
Kate Crisler’s late shot hit the goal post and bounced off, and the Lady Arrows had a couple more late shots that were close to hitting the net.
The loss was tough, especially for the CHS seniors.
Cooper Holmes throws in against Madison Central in the Girls North A Class 7 semi-finals.
Clinton senior goal keeper Sarah Polk was playing in her fourth championship game.
“I knew this game was going to be tough, and we gave it our all,” said Polk. “They made nice shots and capitalized on it when we made mistakes. But we held for most of game, and it could have gone either way.”
“I am proud of what we have done the past four years,” Polk continued. “Not many teams have gone to the finals this many times in a short period of time.”
Isabel Jones, also playing in her fourth championship game, agreed.
“They are a really good opponent, and they always have been. It goes back and forth in our games with them during the regular season every year. We will start working on getting back to the championship game next year,” said Jones.
“We knew coming in this would be a one-goal game,” said Lady Arrow head coach Elliot Rimmer. “We were so close. The shot Kate Crisler hit was a half inch off from going in the net late in the game. That would have changed things. But they went up, and we had to just push.”
“We have a lot of girls that played a lot this year coming back next year, and we should be right back in the mix,” said Rimmer.
A few days earlier, CHS had heart stopping 2-1 overtime win over rival Madison Central in the North Class 7A semifinals.
The Clinton – Madison Central series was as even as it could get in the first two meetings. The first game at Clinton ended in a 0-0 tie, with Clinton winning 1-0 with a goal in the first overtime period.
At Madison Central, in the second regular season meeting, the game also ended tied 0-0, with MCHS winning on a penalty kick 1-0 in overtime.
Danny Davis
McKenzie Price takes a penalty kick against Madison Central.
The North Class 6A Championship game was just as close. Clinton scored first in the 22nd minute, when senior McKenzie Price hit the back of the net from 25 yards out.
“It was a free kick, and I just tried to hit it high into the net, and it went in,” said Price.
Madison Central scored at the 54-minute mark to tie it. With the game tied 1-1 after eighty minutes, the two teams entered into two ten-minute overtime periods. Senior Cooper Holmes scored what would be the winning goal at the 87-minute mark to win 2-1, thanks to an incredible job by senior goal keeper Sarah Pogue, who had two saves in the first half and four saves in the second half.
“I got a great cross, and I wanted to win this game so bad and a chance to win another championship,” said Holmes.
“Sarah Polk has been an absolute anchor of this team for five years now and showed again against Madison Central why it is so difficult to score on this team,” said Rimmer.
In the first half, Clinton had three shots and one shot on target. In the second half, the Lady Arrows had six shots and four shots on target. In the overtime period, CHS had four shots and two shots on target.
To get to the semifinals, Clinton defeated Hernando 1-0 and Oxford 4-0.
“It is always a battle when we play Madison,” said Rimmer. “All these girls on both teams play club soccer together and know each other very well. They are a good team and coached well.”
