Torrington boys' soccer 2-2 in Worland

WORLAND – The Torrington High School boys’ soccer team opened the season with a 2-2 record at a weekend tournament in Worland.

The Blazers opened the season with a 4-0 win over Evanston.

“For our first game, I was impressed with how we were able to come out and move the ball,” THS coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “I thought we did a great job of getting our young guys involved right off the bat.”

Torrington got goals from Josh Posten, Nate Gutierrez, Kevin Gunhammer and Ty Prall in the win.

The Blazer offense pressured the Red Devil defensive line the entire game.

“Kieser Wolfe and Chase Miller played really well together and did a great job of getting behind Evanston’s defense,” Arnusch said. “I also thought that we did a pretty good job of high pressing their defensive line.”

Goalkeeper Kyler Shields tallied three saves.

In the second game of the season, the Blazers faced a much stiffer test in conference foe, Buffalo.

“Buffalo has some of the best young talent in the state, and I thought it was a great learning game for us defensively and for our team shape,” Arnusch said. “I saw a lot of improvement between just the first half and the second half.”

Ultimately, Torrington suffered its first loss of the season, surrendering two goals while not finding the back of the net.

“We started to understand our defensive responsibilities, and we started to get some of the possession back in our favor,” Arnusch said.

Shields recorded seven saves in the loss.

“I was really impressed with Kyler Shields,” Arnusch said. “He had three huge saves in a matter of moments against Buffalo.  He showed a lot of poise in the goal.”

In the third game of the tournament, the Blazers defeated the Cody Broncs, 2-1.

“I thought we came out and executed a couple of new little things like playing on the midline defensively that we haven’t got to do yet this year because of the snow,” Arnusch said.

Torrington stepped up in the second, much to the pleasure of the coach.

“We played really well in the second half and did a great job of playing balanced and with a bit of possession while still attacking,” Arnusch said.

The Blazers got goals from Josh Posten and Nate Gutierrez.

“It was really nice to see the big improvement from the first game of the tournament to the third,” Arnusch said.

However, there are things that still need to be worked on.

“Just a bunch of tiny things like playing the way we face and making sure we receive the ball in the correct stance,” Arnusch said.

In the fourth game, Lander Valley handed the Blazers a 3-1 loss.

It was a game where Torrington had an opportunity to play a lot of athletes in different positions.

“We put a lot of new guys in new places and got to watch the young guys pay in some new positions,” Arnusch said. “I was really impressed with Cole Parriott and Aidyn Saucedo. I thought they learned a lot in this game and did a great job of learning how to play in their correct positional space.”

Gutierrez scored the team’s only goal in the loss.

“It was a great starting weekend for us and now we know what we need to work on,” Arnusch said. “This week we will be working on tiny things like width, playing inside-out, and keeping shape defensively within the mid-line.”

With four games under their belt, the Blazers now turn their attention to conference play this week.

On Friday, the Rawlins Outlaws (2-3) come calling at 5 p.m., while Torrington will get another shot at the Buffalo Bison (3-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday at the old Wiseman Stadium.

Lady Blazers winless in Green River

GREEN RIVER – The Torrington High School girls’ soccer team opened with season with a trio of losses at the Green River Tournament over the weekend.

The Lady Blazers came into the weekend with only two and a half outdoor practices under the team’s belt, but they didn’t let that affect their play on the field.

“That really didn’t help us, but the girls didn’t let it hold them back,” THS coach Dave Cummings said. “They gave all that they could, and it was an outstanding two days’ worth of work.”

Ultimately,  Torrington was shutout in those three games by a combined total of 5-0, but the first-year head coach was pleased with what he saw from his team’s defense.

“We played very well overall,” Cummings said. “Our defense is in a great place, but we have some things work on on offense. Going forward, we are ready to compete.”

Torrington fell to Worland 2-0, Douglas 2-0 and Class 4A Star Valley 1-0.

With three games over two days, it gave Cummings a chance to get a look at some of the younger players just coming into the    program.

“I’m very excited about the quality of the younger players that are coming into the program this year,” Cummings said.

Over the course of the weekend, the Lady Blazers got a taste of 3A conference play against Douglas and Cummings stressed not to look into the final score that closely as both teams were missing players due to other school activities.

“I feel like we are in a position at this point in the season where we know what we need to work on and as we get that work done, the season will be a very good one,” he said.

The Lady Blazers (0-3) will open the home portion of the schedule Friday against Rawlins (1-3) at 3 p.m. Friday and against Buffalo (2-1-1) at noon on Saturday.

“I’m very happy with the effort the girls gave,” Cummings said. “We are looking forward to this weekend with Rawlins and Buffalo. Those will be very good tests for us and show us where we’ve improved and what we need to keep getting better with.”