It was a long time coming for the Pulaski County Lady Maroons on Monday, who finally exercised their first round demons and advanced to Tuesday's regional semifinals with a 2-1 victory over the East Jessamine Lady Jaguars.
The entire first half was a shutout for both teams as the defenses shined, but that didn't stop the Maroons from taking a ton of shots on goal. Reagan Davis had a shot at the buzzer that was stopped by the goalkeeper to keep it a scoreless tie at the break.
It seemed like the game was not going to have a score in regular time as again both defenses were bringing their "A" game through the first 20 minutes of the second half. That was until a free kick by Whitney VanHook was found near the net by sophomore (and just subbed in) Baylee Campbell and put into the back of the net to finally break the tie, putting the Maroons ahead 1-0.
Just as it looked like Pulaski had all the momentum in the world during the final 15 minutes of the game, East Jessamine responded in the 72nd minute with a goal by junior Alexia Chaney following some confusion around the net, knotting the game up at 1-1 and seemingly sending this game close to an overtime period.
Someone forgot to tell the Maroons though. Not even 30 seconds after the tying goal, Kayle Weihrauch found space above the box and hit a beautiful lob shot over the top of East Jessamine goalkeeper Maddy Arnold, pushing the Maroons back ahead 2-1 late in the ball game. That lead would hold and Pulaski would soon be celebrating, advancing onto the semifinals of the 12th Region Tournament with their victory.
Pulaski improves to 16-5-2 on the season and will square off against Boyle County in Tuesday's semifinals, a rematch of a tight game earlier in the season that was won by the Lady Rebels 1-0. Kick is slated for 6 p.m. at Southwestern.