Perry's girls soccer team has lit up the scoreboard often this season on the its way to 20 wins.

It's ability to score (`136 goals in 23 matches) is proof. But as the regular season wound to a close and postseason began on Wednesday night, putting the ball in the net is proving less easy.

Two goals sufficed for No. 6 seed Perry in a 2-0 win over No. 11 Gilbert in the opening round of the 6A state tournament at Perry's John Wrenn Stadium. It was the third meeting this season of the teams with Perry winning the other two, 3-0 and 5-0.

A goal in the first half by Anissa Montoya and another midway through the second half by goal-machine Amanda Dahl were the difference.

Perry (20-2-1) plays host to a quarterfinal match against sister school (No. 14 seed) Chandler on Saturday at 2 p.m. Chandler knocked off No. 3 seed Millennium, 2-0. Perry has never lost an opening-round playoff game in six years qualifying for state.

"Gilbert is a very scrappy ," Perry coach John Roberts said. "We knew we had a tough draw out of the shoot. We had two tough matches leading up to state (a tie and loss to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds). We took a step back to focus on strategies.

"We weren't worried the way the regular season ended. We stepped back and realized they are all going to be tough games going forward."

Perry has given up only seven goals all season so its defense hasn't been shabby either. Its losses are a pair of 1-0 results to Desert Mountain and Xavier and a 0-0 tie with Hamilton. The loss to Xavier was due to an own goal.

Gilbert (11-9), in the playoffs for the 13th time in the last 14 years under coach Ben Holzer, played quite well in the first half. The Tigers were tough in the box when Perry threatened in the opening half and were scored on by an excellent collaboration between Kelly Cannistra and Montoya. Cannistra was able to fit a pass in front of the net with enough space to give Montoya a chance to finish and she didn't fail in the 30th minute.

Perry broke Gilbert's back in the 60th minute. Delaney Uyeshiro connected with Dahl in stride with a defender in tow, but Dahl managed to hammer home an insurance score. It was Dahl's 36th goal of the season. Perry kept play in Gilbert's end most of the rest of the way to prevail comfortably. 

"Our strength all year has been our back four," Holzer said. "We got a few good looks during the game, but nothing really close.....

"That's a great team. We came up short, but it certainly wasn't for lack of effort. This team gave it all they had all season."