Poky’s Gonzalez, back from injury, off to hot start

POCATELLO — Pocatello’s Aryanna Gonzalez was among the top goal-scorers in the state as a sophomore two years ago, then after a hot start to the 2025 season, she suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Now, Gonzalez is back for her senior year and looking to lead the Thunder to a state championship — as she did in 2024. She appeared in just 13 games in 2025.

Head coach Mark Wetstein said that Gonzalez is both physically and mentally “great” after nearly a year of recovery from last year’s surgery.

“And she’s hungry now,” Wetstein told EastIdahoSports.com. “She kinda feels like she was snubbed last year — even for how early she was knocked out (with the knee injury), she still had 18 goals. … I think there’s a little bit of bitterness in there, that she wants to make sure this senior year is her best yet.”

Led by the girl they call “Ary,” the Thunder have started their 2026 season with a 4-1 record, outscoring their opponents by a combined 29 goals to three.

Two of those four wins came last week, in a 7-0 road shutout of the Bonneville Bees on Thursday and a 10-0 home shutout of the Shelley Russets on Saturday.

Gonzalez scored four times Thursday in Bonneville, then returned to her home field Saturday, where she scored three more against the Russets. She now sits at 10 goals for the season — in just five games.

“She’s scoring them left and right,” Wetstein remarked.

Without the star striker at last season’s state tournament, No. 7 Pocatello scored the upset of the tourney: a 2-0 victory over No. 2-seed Twin Falls. The Thunder eventually fell in the third-place game against the No. 1 Hillcrest Knights.

That successful yet trophy-less finish to the season came one year after Poky won its first-ever girls’ soccer state title.

This year, having, along with District 5 rival Century, joined Hillcrest and District 6 to form a two-district conference, the Thunder will face a tougher battle to reach the playoffs.

That starts Thursday, when Pocatello hosts the same Knights team that eliminated them from the 2025 playoffs.