TORRINGTON – The Torrington Trailblazers boys soccer team picked up a 5-1 win at home against Douglas on Thursday after out shooting the Bearcats 33-11.
“I thought our guys put on a solid performance tonight,” coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “I was really impressed with the way we moved the ball and controlled the tempo of the game.”
Early in the first half, Nathan Stitt took a free kick from just outside the box that bounced off the Douglas keeper and Link Jirasart was there to score on the rebound to put Torrington up 1-0. Stitt joined the scoring column with a goal in the 21st minute, upping the Blazer lead to 2-0, a lead that they took into halftime.
A.J. Shields punched through a goal off an assist from Devin Flores three minutes into the second half to add to Torrington’s lead. Stitt was not done for the night, scoring again with a left-footed shot in the 59th minute.

Douglas put up a fight late in the game, scoring in the 67th minute. Jirasart closed the door on the Bearcats, scoring his second goal of the night with seven minutes to go.
At the final whistle, Torrington got the win, 5-1. Two goals came from both Jirasart and Stitt, with Shields adding the fifth. Flores, Shields and William Fluckiger recorded the three assists for the Blazers on Thursday.
“I thought that Nathan Stitt was our player of the game tonight,” Arnusch said. “He put on one of his best performances of the year with his dribbling, crosses and field vision. He definitely is an amazing talent and tonight he showed that he is solid defensively as well.
“He finished the night with seven steals and did a fantastic job of setting up his younger teammates at the end of the game. It was fun to watch his teammates feed off his energy.”
Arnusch said that the Blazer attack started from the back of the pitch and moved forward.
“I thought that Chase Berguson, Cole Morel, Garrett Cooper and Tristan Kingsley did a great job of distributing the ball to our midfielders, who did a solid job of switching fields throughout the game,” Arnusch said. “It was nice to see them make some long crosses when Douglas would over commit to ball-side.”
The win puts Torrington at 10-2 this spring, with a 2-0 record in the conference. The Blazers return to the pitch against Buffalo on Saturday, with the varsity game set for 2 p.m.
“Right now our team is playing well but we have a lot to work on, especially finishing from distance. We play Buffalo next Saturday and we played them to a shootout up in Worland,” Arnusch said. “It should be a very intense game that will force us to play well in the midfield. Our defense will definitely have to stop Buffalo from crossing the ball and keeping possession. It’s going to be a great battle.”