Poky’s Pool party ends in district semis victory over Century

POCATELLO — Pocatello continued its quest for a second straight state championship at Lookout Field Thursday, hosting Century in the 5A District 5 tournament. And with their biggest star sidelined by injury, they got the ultimate star performance from Brynlee Pool in a 4-2 victory.

With junior Aryanna Gonzalez, last year’s East Idaho Sports girls soccer Player of the Year, down due to a knee injury, the fellow junior, Pool, put her many talents on display.

Pool punched home four goals, matching her season total in 10 games coming into the day.

“Brynlee, definitely — this was her game,” Poky head coach Mark Wetstein told EastIdahoSports.com after the game.

While Pool’s foot was the last to touch the ball before it found the net on all four of their goals, Thursday’s victory was a great team effort, according to Wetstein.

“They crushed it,” he said. “Our first half, we dominated. We had some things that we wanted to fix closing that half, and the girls turned around, came out the second half and fixed them and then some.”

Pocatello kept the ball in Century’s defensive zone throughout the first 10 minutes, relentlessly attacking. And when the Diamondbacks finally did mount their own challenge, it was quickly countered by the Thunder, with Pool getting behind the defense and beating the goalie in what amounted to a one-on-one in the 12th minute.

Five minutes later, Pool made it 2-0 with her second score.

Century beefed up the defense, then answered when freshman Araya Trejo found a window through a pile of defenders, making it 2-1 in the 28th minute.

Then just before the end of the half, Century pushed for the equalizer when freshman Kendyl Carey, who was responsible for the only goal in Tuesday’s matchup of Century and Preston, reversed her course several times with nifty ball-handling and fired a shot stopped by Thunder keeper Madysen Torngren.

Pool scored her third goal of the afternoon five minutes into the second half, on an unassisted attack through the teeth of the Century defense.

Her fourth goal came after the Diamondbacks made things interesting with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Tatum Welsh, one of many freshmen on the Century roster, sent a high spinning shot from nearly 40 yards out, over the Poky backline. As it landed, Torngren appeared to be in position for the save, but the ball skipped by the befuddled keeper and into the net.

In the 77th minute, Pool got that insurance goal back, bending a shot from about 25 yards out just inside the goalpost.

With the win, Pocatello has earned itself a full week of rest. Even with that rest though, Gonzalez will not be returning to the field. Wetstein told EastIdahoSports.com that the team leader in goals (18) and points (37) — more than double Pool, the team’s next best performer, in both categories — will not be back until next year.

Century will host Preston once again, on Tuesday, with the winner to face the Thunder next Thursday.

Asked what his team will need to do to keep the intensity and performance up through the long layoff, Wetstein said:

“Good, hard practices. I gave them tomorrow off but, Monday, we’ll hit it hard.”