Freshman Esveidy Hernandez scored four minutes into Thursday’s Raccoon River Conference soccer match with visiting Boone, with sophomore Jaelyn Waddle scoring with less than three minutes to play to lift Perry to a 2-0 victory.
The win lifts the Jayettes to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in RRC play.
Selena Garcia had seven saves in goal, five of them in the second half, to preserve the shutout. Her sixth and seventh stops both required last-second dives to her left, but the junior proved her worth in corralling both would-be scores.
Perry dominated the action and had much more possession of the ball in the windy and cool conditions but struggled to fire shots on goal as Boone packed their defense deep into their own end.
The upshot was that the guests rarely sustained any long offensive drives, relying on breakout runs that were rarely allowed by the Perry midfielders and defenders.
Joselyn Perla and Erica Block played strong games in front of the Perry goal, with Bryn Steffen, Mariah McNamara, Syd Guerra and Carly Herrera, among others, preventing Boone from making the kind of multiple-attack passes that would have forced the hosts to fall back into their own zone on a regular basis.
Perry is a young team, with just three seniors and three juniors on the varsity roster, the extended list of which counts five sophomores (two of whom are injured) and nine freshmen. The team has played the season without the services of sophomore Natalie Martinez, who terrorized defenses with 30 goals in 13 games as a freshman last season.
The Jayette junior varsity also tasted shutout victory Thursday with a 4-0 triumph.
Beyonce Gonzalez, Hannah Peterson and Denise Mejia — all freshmen — scored in the first half, with sophomore Hennifer Alvayero capping the scoring with a goal after the break.
Perry will host Des Moines Christian Monday for a varsity-only match at 5:30 p.m. before visiting Newton April 28.
