WORLAND – The Torrington Trailblazers boys soccer team went 2-2 and bested Buffalo in penalty kicks to win seventh place out of 16 teams at the Pinnacle Challengers Cup Tournament in Worland over the weekend.

Torrington 2, Buffalo 1 (PK)
A 1-1 tie after regulation sent the game straight into penalty kicks, due to tournament rules. In the shootout, Nathan Stitt knocked through the first goal and Tyler Ring recorded a save against the Bison to put Torrington up 1-0. Link Jirasart missed his opportunity as well as Buffalo, keeping the shootout score at 1-0. A.J. Shields converted on the third penalty kick for Torrington. Buffalo did not score until its fourth penalty shot. Ring blocked the fifth attempt for the Bison to seal the shootout win, 2-1.
“It was probably better in the end that we went to penalties because we can’t replicate that in practice and it was valuable experience for everyone,” coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “We ended up moving Tyler Ring back into the goal and he made some great saves.”
As mentioned, the lineup looked different throughout the weekend for the Blazers, with Ring, a two-time all-state keeper, taking the field as a position player. Against Buffalo, Stitt, an all-state field player, went between the pipes during regulation, and recorded three saves.
“The game was an intense, physical game from the very beginning,” Arnusch said. “Both of us really wanted to win and we both put out our varsity teams on the field, except we kept Nathan in the goal and let T-Ring play one more game in the field.”
Torrington outshot Buffalo 15-8, but could only capitalize on one shot, with the lone goal during regulation coming from Jirasart, his fourth on the season.
“It was definitely fun and we really controlled the tempo of the game in both the first and second half,” Arnusch said. “I thought we did a great job of keeping our formation and finding passes, while playing goal-side on their attacks.”

Riverton 6, Torrington 0

Also on Saturday, Torrington took on fourth-ranked Riverton and fell 6-0.
“We got a lot of our young guys some time because by the third game, some of our older guys were hurting pretty good and were really sore, but they did a great job of encouraging the freshmen and sophomores on the team,” Arnusch said.
Riverton got the win, but Arnusch said that Torrington still came out with some victories, despite being sent to the seventh-place game.
“This game was a very good game for our young guys to get in and earn some valuable varsity experience,” Arnusch said. “It was such a valuable teaching experience for our midfielders as they learned how to move as a triangular defense and get into the passing lanes while pushing the ball wide to the outside backs.”
Lathan Canaday got a shot at starting in goal for the varsity squad against Riverton, racking up 14 saves in the loss. Other than Canaday, many of the Blazers that took the field were underclassmen.
“I was very pleased with Bailey Powell and Benji Braddy, as they both had a no-quit attitude in them,” Arnusch said of two freshmen.

Torrington 1, Star Valley 0
To open the tournament, Torrington adjusted its normal starting lineup and still picked up a 1-0 win over Star Valley.
“We went into this game not wanting to show our full hand because there is a good possibility we will see Star Valley at state so we moved a lot of guys to new positions to experiment and change things up a bit,” Arnusch said.
On of the rosters moves was similar to the game against Buffalo, putting Ring in the field and dropping Stitt between the pipes. Both excelled at their new positions, with the lone goal of the game coming from Ring. As keeper, Stitt pitched a shut out and racked up seven saves.
“It was a really special game for us because our captain, Tyler Ring, scored the game winning goal, which was his first ever in his varsity career,” Arnusch said. “It was also a ton of fun because Nathan Stitt played his first game ever in the goal and recorded a clean sheet against a very technical Star Valley team.”
The assist for Ring’s goal came from Devin Flores.

Worland 1, Torrington 0
Torrington’s game against third-ranked Worland on Friday night was a windy affair, and Worland had the wind at the right time to net a goal against Stitt, who was Torrington’s keeper.
“It went back and forth all game as both of us were playing against and with the wind,” Arnusch said. “Unfortunately though, when they had the wind a ball just happened to sneak past Nathan. It was one of those one in 100 balls but sometimes that’s just the way the game goes.”
Stitt almost made up for the goal that snuck past him late in the game. Although he spent three of the four games over the weekend between the pipes, he still came close to walking away with a goal.
“Nathan almost scored a goal from the goalie position with about two minutes left,” Arnusch said. “He dribbled past the entire Worland team and put a left-footed shot just in the reach of the bottom left corner. I don’t know how the Worland goalie got to it but it was intense and then we just barely missed the corner right afterwards.
“It would have been one of the craziest things I had ever seen in soccer and the crowd was loving it.”
The 2-2 record over the weekend put the Blazers at 7-2 on the season. They still sit atop the southeast conference with a 2-0 record against conference foes. Torrington is the only team in 3A to have seven wins so far this spring. The Blazers return to the pitch to pick up a game on the road against Scottsbluff, Neb. on Thursday. The two teams met earlier this season but the game was postponed at a 2-2 tie just before halftime. Action will resume at 4 p.m.