Plano East’s Maheera Dali (4) and Sydney Reichert (23) battle for a header during Tuesday’s area-round playoff match against Arlington Martin at Tom Kimbrough Stadium. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media

By David Wolman

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It wasn’t until two weeks ago when the Plano East girls soccer team fielded a full roster for the first time this season – just in time for the playoffs. 

With a full roster on deck, the Lady Panthers are showing how much of a formidable opponent they can be when healthy.

Plano East rode a seven-goal offensive outburst to post a 7-1 rout of Arlington Martin in the area round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs Tuesday evening to extend its longest postseason run since 2008. 

“This team is the best team that I’ve coached,” head coach Cristy Cooley said. “We’ve had good teams in the past and great individuals. But as a whole, we weren’t together as a team, and this is a team.”

Despite watching her team win the match by six goals, Alexa Perreira said that Plano East came in with an underdog mentality, with her coach sending a text to the entire team that they weren’t supposed to win.

That text provided plenty of motivation as Plano East dominated possession over the opening 10 minutes.

Factor in the excitement the Lady Panthers had for playing in front of their home fans from Tom Kimbrough Stadium, Plano East needed just seven minutes to bring their supporters to their feet. 

Avleen Randhawa floated a cross into the penalty area. Arlington Martin’s goalkeeper reached in the air to get her right hand on the ball. The ball eventually bounced back to Alexa Perreira, who fired a shot with her left foot for a goal and a 1-0 lead.

It was the start of a big night for Perreira, who added her second goal in the 24^th minute and her third goal six minutes into the second half. Plano East had two players finish with three goals in the match. Lauren Delapaz completed her hat trick with a hard shot from the left side of the field. Delapaz posted a five-point night, with assists on two of Perreira’s goals.

“We’re really good friends outside of soccer and we also play on the same club team,” Delapaz said. “So, we’re just able to grow that bond, and I know where she is going to go and I know how she’s going to play. So, it’s easy to link up.”

Arlington Martin briefly stole the momentum after Plano East’s first goal with several minutes of dominant possession. The Lady Warriors rode that wave of energy and proceeded to tie the score 1-1 in the 18^th minute. Ryan Frantangelo received a long pass and used her speed to run through the Lady Panthers’ defense and placed a high shot into the left side of the net for a goal.

“We don’t really care about goals scored against,” Cooley said. “We’ve had some big losses but that’s because we didn’t have all of the pieces together. We just kept playing. There have been times when we have come back from a 2-0 deficit. They just have confidence that they’re going to score.”

So much so that Plano East needed just two minutes to retake the lead. Aliya Jacob slipped a pass inside to Delapaz, who finished on the right side for a 2-1 lead in the 20^th minute.

Delapaz gave Plano East more breathing room to work with a few minutes later. The Plano East junior created a 2-on-1 rush for the Lady Panthers, with Perreira receiving the pass. Perreira then finished with a score from the right side for a 3-1 lead.

Plano East wasn’t done just yet as the Lady Panthers scored four more goals in the second half to continue the offensive onslaught.

Perreira completed her hat trick with a header in the 46^th minute before Delapaz scored her third of the night with 14:51 remaining in the match.

“It’s really a crazy feeling,” Perreira said. “It’s going to be hard to go to sleep tonight.”

Plano East will play Keller in the regional semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hebron High School. Keller beat Odessa Permian 4-2 in penalty kicks to advance.