HUXLEY — The Perry girls remained undefeated in Raccoon River Conference soccer with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Ballard Tuesday.
The Bombers (3-2-2, 1-1-1) held a 1-0 lead at the half, but succumbed to a Jayette (8-1, 5-0) attack in the second half that, for the first time this season, feature goal scorer extraordinaire Natalie Martinez, who has missed the entire season to this point with a knee injury.
Taking no chances, the team has withheld Martinez, who electrified the state last year with 30 goals in 13 games — 11 more goals that the next-closest freshman and fourth-best in Class 2A.
Senior Mariah McNamara tied the game in the 45th minute with her first goal of the season. Martinez, it turned out, needed just nine minutes of play to find the net for the first time, beating the keeper in the 49th minute for a 2-1 Perry lead.
Molly Lutmer added an insurance goal six minutes later to cap the three-goals in 10-minutes flurry. Jacqueline Guardado assisted on Lutmer’s goal, her fifth of the season.
Selena Garcia had six saves in goal for the Jayettes, who will be tested Thursday with a road game at a talented Gilbert team. The Tigers are ranked seventh in Class 1A and have been as high as number three this season.
The Perry junior varsity also fell into a 1-0 hole Tuesday, but could not find the nylon and suffered the loss as neither team scored after the initial strike. Carly Anderson had 13 saves in goal for the Jayette JV< with Hannah Peterson, Kat Munoz and Lexie Welch having shots on goal.
