Centaurus victory sets up for epic finale
Warriors will play Silver Creek Friday for NCAC title
LAFAYETTE >> Centaurus boys soccer stared down the face of heartbreak late into its hunt for the Northern Colorado Athletics Conference title on Wednesday night on its home field. The Warriors needed a hero to step up and avenge them.
Junior midfielder Liam Dols was just the man for the job.
In the 66th minute, with the bright-red game clock winding down fast, Dols ruined a tremendous save from Windsor keeper
Tristyn Bruning when, on the ricochet from an Angel Corchado shot, he propelled the ball back toward the net. Bruning didn’t have time to respond.
That lone goal paved the way for a 1-0 victory for Centaurus, which desperately needed a win to keep its league title hopes alive, after an interference call waived off an earlier score.
Had the Warriors ended the game with a loss or a draw, Silver Creek would have claimed the title outright. Now, the two will battle each other for an epic regular-season finale on Friday afternoon.
“It felt good. The (Windsor) coach was talking a lot when we were getting subbed in, and I was just kind of done with what he was saying. He was talking all game and I was just fed up with it,” Dols said. “He was just trying to get inside of our heads and stuff like that. He was just yelling nonsense all around.”
The Warriors very nearly scored on a corner kick in the waning seconds of the first half, thanks to a stealthy header from Dols over Bruning’s head, but the officials called it back.
“Apparently, there were two balls on the field, so the goalie had one ball in his hands when the other ball was coming in,” Centaurus head coach David Wood said. “He threw the ball off to the side, so that’s why the goal didn’t count. That’s the explanation I was given.”
The Warriors continued to dominate possession through the second half after shifting the tides in their favor toward the end
PHOENIX >> Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt had some good moments on the mound during the regular season, but struggled to contain the long ball, giving up 22 homers in just 96 innings.
Now the Diamondbacks turn to the rookie right-hander for Game 3 of the NL Championship Series in an effort to slow the homer-happy Philadelphia Phillies, who have built a 2-0 lead in the bestof-seven playoff thanks to six homers.
If that doesn’t sound ideal for the D-backs, well, it’s not.
“Yesterday was a really frustrating outcome,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said Wednesday, a day after Philadelphia’s 10-0 rout at Citizens Bank Park. “We didn’t perform up to our capabilities, didn’t meet our expectations. We’ve got to find a way to get this turned around.
“Our mindset is one well-played game could lead to one win and we’re right back in the series.”
The two-game deficit is the first adversity the surprising D-backs have experienced this October. They were just 84-78 in the regular season, earning the last NL spot as the No. 6 seed, but won their first five games of this postseason while sweeping Milwaukee in a best-of-three series and the Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-five.
That success came to a screeching halt in Philadelphia. Kyle Schwarber has three homers in the series, including a pair in Game 2, while Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Trea Turner have also gone deep.
“They’re a hot team. We knew they were a hot team,” Lovullo said. “They’re built to slug.”
The good news for the D-backs is Pfaadt is coming off one of his best outings this year. The 25-yearold threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 3 of the NL Division Series, helping Arizona complete a sweep the 100-win Dodgers and a lineup that included former MVPS Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
The difference is the Dodgers were scuffling.
The Phillies, most certainly, are not.pfaadt hopes of change of scenery to the desert can help the D-backs.
“We went through Milwaukee’s lineup. We went through the Dodgers’ lineup,” Pfaadt said. “I think we can hold our own. If we show that, coming into our ballpark, limiting damage, getting the momentum on our side, I think we can come out on the strong end.”