THS sweep, Buffalo, Riverton

Andrew Towne
Posted 4/13/21

TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School boys’ soccer team picked up a pair of key 3A East Conference wins over the weekend.

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THS sweep, Buffalo, Riverton

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TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School boys’ soccer team picked up a pair of key 3A East Conference wins over the weekend.

The Blazers opened the weekend with Friday’s 6-2 road victory over the Buffalo Bison before returning home to defeat the Riverton Wolverines 4-2 on Saturday.

On Friday, THS grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first half against Buffalo, but the Bison closed the gap, scoring the next two goals.

“We played beautiful soccer in the first half,” THS coach Gabe Bartlett said. “We scored goals quick and from all over. Then we came out and took our foot off the gas. We don’t keep playing as a team. We don’t find our mids and going out to our wings.”

Torrington capped off the match with two additional goals to pull away for the win.

The two goals against Torrington rejuvenated the team.

“Those two goals snapped them out of it, and they start playing together again,” Bartlett said.

Junior Kieser Wolfe had a hat trick with three goals, while junior Chase Miller had two. Senior Durward Randall had one in the win.

The next day, Miller connected on a pair of free-kick goals and recorded an assist in a 4-2 win over Riverton.

“Chase Miller had a great game. He controls that middle for our offense,” Bartlett said. “If we can get it on his feet and get him turned and squared up to the goal, it makes our runners open up and makes (the defense) choose who they want to stop.”

In the third minute, Miller scored the game’s first goal.

Over the next 20 minutes, Riverton picked up three cards, including a red card in the 14th minute, leaving the visitors short-handed for the remainder of the match.

In the 29th minute, Miller found Randall, who gave Torrington a 2-0 lead.

The Blazers’ lead remained at two until the 62nd minute when Riverton got on the scoreboard.

Five minutes later, the Wolverines tied the match at two apiece.

“If you look at what (goalkeeper Aidyn Saucedo) did the whole game, minus the 60-yard bomb and the ricochet goal, which you can do nothing about that, he’s been phenomenal for us,” Bartlett said. “He’s been willing to do it. I’m so happy for Aidyn. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

In the 73rd minute, Miller found the back of the net on his second free kick to put Torrington back in front 3-2.

Torrington junior Kieser Wolfe capped off the match with a goal in the closing seconds after slipping past the Riverton defense.

The win improved the Blazers to 3-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in the 3A East.

“This was a big one,” Bartlett said. “We are sitting pretty well in conference. We needed it today to solidify that.”

The Blazers host Rawlins at 5 p.m. Friday and travel to Newcastle on Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest.