Ashleigh Pischke always seemed to be in the right place at the right time Thursday night.

Pischke was in on four goals, scoring two and setting up two others, as fourth-seeded Mankato East defeated No. 12 Glencoe-Silver Lake 5-1 in the Section 2A girls soccer quarterfinals at Thomas O. Anderson Fields.

“All I really did was run and cross it to whoever was there,” said Pischke, a sophomore forward.

Glencoe-Silver Lake had upset No. 5 Fairmont to advance out of the first round.

“(Pischke’s) passing, kicking and crossing are incredible,” East coach Matone Wamma said. “She’s come a long way. Pischke is one of our weapons.”

The Cougars opened the scoring in the 21st minute when Pischke brought the ball down to the goal line and hit a waiting Mandy Smith on a centering pass. Smith stuffed it in to put East on the board.

One minute later, Pischke controlled the ball on the other side of the net and crossed it through traffic. The ball somehow found the net to give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage.

The Panthers cut the lead in half with a goal in the 25th minute.

“You always feel that when they score that they could get back in the game,” Wamma said. “But with the body language I saw out there, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

Danielle Steele gave the Cougars a two-goal lead again 15 minutes into the second half on a goal assisted by Jill Kroeger.

Pischke iced it in the 58th minute with her second goal. She added an assist on the final goal scored by Alex Miller late in the game.

The Cougars finished with 20 shots, while their goalkeeper, Sarah Brozik, made 12 saves.

Wamma was more pleased with his team’s effort as opposed to Tuesday’s match, when East defeated Mankato Loyola 3-0 in first round action.

“Normally we start sluggishly like our last game,” Wamma said. “Everybody played up to the level of intensity that I wanted today.”

Now East (10-6-3) moves on to Tuesday’s semifinals where they will face the winner of top-seeded Albert Lea and No. 9 Worthington.