kang@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Dee Dee Ford can't predict the future, but she knows for sure what kind of a player Preston's freshman forward Reagan Hyde will be by the time she's an upperclassman.

"Probably unstoppable," Ford said.

Hyde was close to unstoppable Thursday as well, scoring off two brilliant individual efforts to power Preston to a 2-1 win over Pocatello at Hawthorne Park in the first round of the 4A Fifth District tournament.

Preston advances to a showdown at Century at 11 a.m. Saturday. Pocatello will play the loser of that game Tuesday.

Pocatello coach Doug Merkley isn't happy his team is playing Tuesday and not Saturday - if his squad hadn't squandered as many scoring chances as it did, he said, the outcome of Thursday's game could have been very different.

"My kids had more opportunities than Preston," Merkley said. "We outplayed them in the middle, at times dramatically, and then made foolish decisions. That was going on all game long, and we've done it all season long."

Indeed, Pocatello created the first three scoring opportunities of the second half. Corin Ravsten appeared to give Pocatello the lead in the 42nd minute by muscling past two defenders and slotting the ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal, but she was ruled offside.

Hyde didn't have any trouble converting her chances on Preston's counterattacks.

In the 49th minute, she collected a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area, swiveled to her right and blasted a high shot just inside the far post. Just four minutes later, Hyde burst past her defender down the left flank and punted a looping ball into the top-right corner of the Poky goal.

"She's a phenomenal young lady," Ford said. "She's got a golden foot and great speed. Her shots are hard to beat."

Pocatello sliced its deficit in half when Preston goalkeeper Kalie Brackin dropped a cross the following minute, and freshman Rachael Fisher tapped the ball into the open goal.

But the northern Indians failed to convert numerous other chances, even after the referees sent off Amy Bjorklund in the 65th minute to leave Preston (11-4-0, 2-3-0) a player short.

Poky's best chance came in the 58th minute, when Fisher hit the left post on a close-range shot after Brackin dropped a free kick. The Gate City Indians launched one final attack in injury time when Andrea Beseris fought off two defenders during a long run from midfield into the Preston penalty box, but she shot just over the bar.

"Their players did too much," Hyde said. "If they were to take the shot when they had the shot, they would have had a few (goals), but their players did too much."

Rather than feel demoralized by those wasted opportunities, though, Merkley was buoyed by the fact that his team created them in the first place.

Merkley insisted if his team creates as many chances Tuesday, they will have a good shot at keeping their season alive.

"I'm not convinced that Preston is a better team than us," Merkley said. "They expected to beat Preston. They know they're capable of beating Preston."