Perry had two golden chances to lay down and die, but the Jayettes refused to relent on Dewey Field Tuesday, twice overcoming rallies from a fiercely determinant Winterset squad to score a 4-3 win in their Class 2A Region 4 Semifinal.
The victory sends Perry (11-5) to the regional finals for the second consecutive year. They will play host Norwalk (13-4), ranked ninth, Monday 6 p.m. The Warriors advanced Tuesday with a 1-0 win over DC-G.
Perry — who had opened their season April 4 with a 1-0 win over the Huskies — wasted little time exciting the home crowd Tuesday at Natalie Martinez beat the keeper just over two minutes into the contest, then made it 2-0 with a second unassisted goal less than eight minutes later.
Winterset showed plenty of their own mettle by recovering from the emotional blow by scoring in the 17th minute and again, on a tight-angle shot from Addison Boyle, later in the first half to stun the hosts and tie the game.
With all the momentum having switched to the Huskies, it was junior Syd Guerra who came to the rescue, burying a blistering, hooking shot from 25 yards out that twisted just above and beyond the reach of Husky keeper Alayna Gray, who saw the shot all the way and made a great effort at the save, but was simply beaten on the play.
Guerra’s blast came with 1:07 to play on the clock and gave the hosts a 3-2 lead at the intermission.
Winterset fought back valiantly, with Marina Brightman scoring the second Husky goal to come off a sharp angle. The shot tied the game at 3-all and brought the sizable visiting contingent to their feet.
Faced again with a sudden loss of momentum, Perry once more rose to the challenge. A turnover at midfield sent Jacqueline Guardado streaking up the right side of the pitch, the Winterset defense in hot pursuit.
Guardado let fly from 25 yards out. Her hooking shot was knocked aside by Gray in the middle of the goal mouth, deflecting off her mitts and to her right, which was exactly where Martinez had sprinted to while making the run with Guardado. The sophomore dodged a defender and beat a diving Gray just 42 seconds after Brightman had scored, giving Perry a 4-3 lead.
Both teams had been the shocker and the shocked to that point, creating a suspenseful final 22 minutes in which each team tried desperately to be the next to score — Winterset to potentially force extra time and Perry to finally bury their foe.
Neither defense was in the mood to yield again, though Perry goalie Carly Anderson — who guarded the goal for the final 50 minutes, was thrice asked to make key saves in the final two minutes.
