Trailblazer boys snag quadrant win over Lander

Erick Starkey
Posted 3/29/17

Nathan Stitt converted a penalty kick after being fouled in the box late against Lander at home on Friday, resulting in a 1-0 victory for the Torrington Trailblazers boys’ soccer team.

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Trailblazer boys snag quadrant win over Lander

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TORRINGTON – Nathan Stitt converted a penalty kick after being fouled in the box late against Lander at home on Friday, resulting in a 1-0 victory for the Torrington Trailblazers boys’ soccer team.
The penalty kick opportunity by Stitt came after he capitalized on a hole in the defense and had a solid look at the goal, before being collapsed on from behind by two Lander defenders. He knocked the penalty kick into the right side of the goal to put the Blazers up 1-0 with 6:20 to go. Torrington clung to the one-goal advantage until the final whistle.
“It was definitely a nail biter until the very end,” coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “The best part about it is that we are now 2-0 in our quadrant and we still have a ton of room to improve as a team and as individuals.”
Other than several breakaway opportunities, the ball was played in Torrington’s defensive third for much of the game. Arnusch said that allowing the ball to be closer to the Blazer goal was a schematic choice that paid off.
“We sat back with our midfielders stacked over the defensive line and let them have possession because it was very clear in old game film they like to spread teams out and run at the center backs,” he said. “We tried to make them play wide and our physical defensive triangle did a great job of controlling the middle. I want to give props to Devin Flores, Ethan Creagar and Nathan on holding their defensive triangle and finding the quick outlets to A.J. Shields, Link Jirasart and freshman Nate Guitierrez.”

Behind the back line, senior Tyler Ring racked up six saves against Lander and pitched his second shutout in three games.
“He had three incredible saves that kept us in this game,” Arnusch said. “When we play a counter attack style of game and let the other team have possession, you have to have a high level of confidence that your goalie can make any save in those rare moments that an opponent slips through our defensive line, and our team has that confidence in him. He is a special talent and my player of the game.”

Torrington 2, Scottsbluff, Neb. 2 (Delayed)
In previous season action, Torrington squared off against Scottsbluff on the road on Thursday. The game sat at a 2-2 tie before being postponed because of lightning.
Stitt got the Blazers off to a hot start, scoring an early goal, but the Bearcats came back with two goals of their own. Stitt answered with another goal to knot the game up at two. Stitt’s goals came off assists from Creagar and Shields.
“They were super quick up top and surprised our back line with some blazing speed, but once we were able to make adjustments, we were able to keep them in from of us and regain possession, which led to another goal from Nathan and some quality looks from Link and A.J.,” Arnusch said.
The game between the Blazers and Bearcats was called late in the first half. It will resume on April 13 at 4 p.m. Counting the two full games that Torrington has gotten in this spring, the Blazers sit first in the quadrant at 2-0. Four teams in 3A are undefeated, but Torrington is the only one to have multiple wins.
“The fact that we have now proven we can play three different styles of soccer is also a testament to how coachable this group of boys is,” Arnusch said. “With 32 boys on our roster, we can play an offensive game where we shoot the ball and keep possession like we did against Rawlins, we can play a balanced game like when we were in Scottsbluff and we can play defensively and park the pus like we did against Lander and wait for the counter attacks.”