When needed most, Perry senior Natalie Martinez stepped up her game.
The all-time leading scorer in school history, Martinez scored three times to propel host Perry (8-9) to a 4-2 win over Collins-Maxwell (10-6) in their Class 2A Region 4 girls soccer semifinal Wednesday.
Perry will now appear in their third regional final in four years when they travel to top-ranked ADM (16-1) for a Monday showdown at 6 p.m. The Tigers, who defeated Ballard, 6-2, Wednesday, were 4-0 winners over the host Jayettes May 7. The two teams met in Adel in the regional final last year, where Perry — defeated 10-0 in the regular season — took the Tigers to the wire before falling, 2-1.
Martinez opened the scoring Wednesday by finding the back of the Spartan net in the 15th minutes. The guests scored in the 27th minute to tie the game, then grabbed a 2-1 lead with a scored in the 34th minute.
Magley Orellana assisted on a Martinez goal with less than three minutes left in the first half to send the teams into the intermission locked at 2-2.
Martinez scored for the 24th time this season — and for the 93rd time in her career — just over 11 minutes into the second half to push the Jayettes into a 3-2 lead.
Freshman Jazmin Hernandez capped the scoring by providing a critical insurance goal three minutes later as the Perry lead rose to 4-2, where it remained.
Kim Castillo had five saves in the first half and three in the second, with Odaly Perla adding five second-half saves between the pipes for Perry.
