HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER

Elle Hokanson has perfected something like a soccer magic trick. She's a defender on Pocatello's girls soccer team, which means she isn't usually involved her team's scoring attack, but something tends to keep happening: When Poky plays Preston, like on Tuesday night, she's found a way to chip in shots from some 30 yards out, scoring in a way that makes you squint.

Did she really mean to do that?

Turns out, she certainly does. So when Hokanson pulled it off on Tuesday night, lofting in a long goal that sailed just over the Preston goalkeeper's fingertips, her teammates and coaches were thrilled - just not surprised. That helped Pocatello secure a 2-0 win over Preston, the Thunder's fourth win in their last five matches, the latest installment in this group's mission to build on last season's finish at state.

"This is at least the fourth time I've seen that," Poky coach Mark Wetstein said. "She knew what she was doing. She just has that."

The Thunder have a lot more. They roster a group of seniors and juniors who have accumulated an 8-3-1 record this season, topping 5A teams they don't usually play - they beat Highland for just the second time in program history, and they played Rigby to a draw - and 4A ones they usually do, clipping clubs like Hillcrest, Jerome, Skyline, Idaho Falls, Century. You name the team and the Thunder have probably beaten them this fall. The players who have fueled this start are largely the ones who helped secure this win over Preston. Wetstein relies on a cadre of senior leaders, Lexi Bott and Hallie Stone and Brookelyn Jorgensen, plus fellow seniors Brooke Harris, Avery Fehringer and Savannah Lunetto. Sprinkle in pieces like Hokanson and Masak — who last year won her team's Golden Boot award for most goals — and you get a serious contender.

Really, Wetstein says, that's what this group is trying to do: Contend when it matters. Last fall, the Thunder advanced to the consolation championship game, which added up to Pocatello's best finish in school history. Almost everyone from that team is back, which makes Wetstein and Co. think what you probably are now: This team can get back there, and maybe do better.

"One hundred percent. That is their goal," Wetstein said. "They want that state championship. Pocatello High has never won a state championship for girls soccer. They want to leave that legacy. They are dying for it."

Wetstein has to be careful here. A month ago, when Poky topped Highland 1-0, he found his girls happy — a little too happy. "They kinda sat back on their heels," Wetstein said. "They said, OK, we beat this huge rival school. This was a tough match. They thought it would be easy to coast from there on." To their credit, the Thunder did, winning their next three matches. But Wetstein remained wary.

"They need to watch out for still pushing themselves," he said, "still continuing to get better, still continuing to get stronger and faster. And not just letting things coast because it won't."

As the season enters its second month, the Thunder want to keep winning, but they also want to keep growing closer with each other. Wetstein likes his group's progress on that front, but he's also sensed that with 20-some girls and only so many spots available for playing time, things can get tense in practice. Girls like each other, but they're also aware that, hey, my friend is taking minutes from me. "That's where they need to work is to continue to just be a team," Wetstein said. "Come together. Be positive with each other, lift each other up."

On Tuesday night, it would have been easy for the Thunder to grow frustrated. In the first half, they clanged some four shots off the crossbars, dribbling into good looks at goals, only for them to carom off the poles — pang — and leave them scoreless. Even late in the half, Jorgensen netted a goal — but she was offside. On Pocatello went, mired in a scoreless draw with a rival.

So when halftime arrived, the Thunder understood the stakes. It was one thing that this match mattered for postseason seeding. It was another that it came against Preston, a Poky rival. "It always has been as far as I've been here," Wetstein said. The head coach could sense the emotion, the frustration, the physicality.

In the end, though, the Thunder felt relief. Who knew one of their defenders would come through with another goal?