JACKSON – The Torrington boys soccer team dropped a pair of contests on penalty kicks, one to eventual state champion Worland, to conclude the 2018 Wyoming State Soccer Championships 1-2. The Blazers finished 10-9-1 overall.
“I am super proud of how we played,” Torrington coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “We came in and fought every single game and showed everyone in the state that we are a great soccer team. But unfortunately for us, luck wasn’t on our side this tournament, especially in the penalty kick shootouts.”
Torrington opened tournament play against Worland on Thursday. The contest finished 2-2 at the end of regulation and Worland grabbed a 5-4 advantage in penalty kicks to advance into the state semifinals.
“I thought we played great in this entire game except for two five-second lapses,” Arnusch said. “We executed our game plan and took away their three best players. We also did a great job of holding our layers and defending their switches but we still ended up in overtime and in penalty kicks. In overtime, Daeden Morrow did a solid job of guessing directions on the penalty kicks but was just inches away from getting to them. Playing goalie and stopping a penalty kick is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports and Daeden almost had them. He won us a penalty kick match earlier in the season against Rawlins up in Green River. I was very proud of how he played.”
Senior Nathan Stitt finished with a pair of goals, while Ethan Creagar and Josh Kingsley added an assist apiece. Chase Dominguez ended with three saves in goal for the Blazers.
In the consolation bracket on Friday, Stitt recorded a trio of goals to lead Torrington to a 4-0 victory over Powell. Creagar added a goal of his own in the victory and three assists.
“I thought the boys came out and took care of business in a nice fashion against Powell who uses the offside trap more than any team I have seen in 3A boys soccer,” Arnusch said. “It was definitely not what we were used to playing against.It caught us offsides 5-8 times which really made it hard for us to get in a rhythm. It was also a nice game because it allowed us to get some younger players more time at this big tournament.”
In the consolation semifinals Saturday, the Blazers again found themselves on the short end of a penalty kick loss to Buffalo, 2-1.
Tristen Kingsley notched the Blazers’ lone goal of regulation as both teams headed into overtime tied at 1-1. Tristen Kingsley and Stitt each added a penalty kick goal, but it wasn’t enough as the Blazers fell.
“I thought we played well again in this game, especially at the goalie position behind Chase Dominguez,” Arnusch said. “He made a few key saves and his quick transitions helped us counter the athletes that Buffalo kept in their attacking third.”
Dominguez ended with six saves in goal for Torrington.
Overall, losing on penalty kicks twice at the same tournament is a bit gut wrenching but I was sure proud of how we played every game,” Arnusch said. “Both losses up here came down to spot kicks and we took the state champs as far as soccer will allow. That’s something we can be proud of.
“I am also really going to miss this group of seniors,” he continued. “They were a blast to coach and they did a great job of showing heart and sportsmanship throughout the season. I wish we would have been able to bring home some hardware but we did join an elite part of Wyoming 3A soccer history with our goal scoring. We scored 81 goals on the season which is the second highest of all time according to the stats we have dug up. That is pretty remarkable and a task we are extremely proud of.”
