After falling to Torrington on April 12, the Worland Warriors soccer team made a few changes before last week's games. The Warriors took to the changes well and played some of their best soccer of the season in their two home victories.

With both games at Warrior Stadium, Worland beat Buffalo 2-1 (4-1 penalties) on April 19 and Rawlins 1-0 on April 20. The Warriors picked up two big 3A East conference wins to keep pace with 1-seed Torrington.

Against Buffalo, Tyshon Swalstad converted on a free kick near the top left corner of the 18. In the second half, Buffalo got the equalizer, and from there, the two teams played to a stalemate in regulation.

"Where we messed up against Buffalo was that we forgot that we could attack," said WHS boys soccer goal Ron Overcast. "We only got 14 shots off in that entire game. We put in some new stuff and moved some people around. Buffalo is good. We just got to keep working and winning these games in regulation. That's the main thing."

With the game tied 1-all at the end of regulation, penalties would decide who got the three points. Worland converted on all their penalties, while Warrior keeper Bryan Caballero came up with two big saves to help secure Worland's 2-1 (4-1 penalties) victory over Buffalo.

"Bryan is having an outstanding year. He's doing a really good job and keeping us in games. I've been really happy with how he's been playing this year," said Overcast.

Playing Rawlins the next day, the Warriors dominated possession against the Outlaws. Much of the game was played around midfield or in Rawlins' defensive third.

Worland attempted plenty of shots against Rawlins but couldn't convert. But with 12 minutes remaining in the second half, the Warriors had the numbers on the counterattack. Owen Page found forward Masen Decker with a well-timed through ball. Decker did the rest as he calmly snuck the ball under Rawlins' keeper Jose Morales.

With the 1-0 lead, the Warriors kept the pressure up on their way to the 1-0 win.

"Masen did a really good job of getting that goal. What I really liked was that you could see him slow down and place the ball where the keeper wasn't. Jose Morales is one of the top keepers in the state. That kid is talented. We needed that goal, too.

"We played confidently and dominated that game. We had more shots at halftime against Rawlins than we did all game against Buffalo. Our attack was good. That final pass gets away from us, but we're going to work to clean that up. But overall, against Rawlins, we played our best game of the season. We played defense and were attacking at the same time. Saturday, we were moving up and down the field the best I've seen this season. We've got to keep polishing that and improving," said Overcast.

Tuesday, the Warriors traveled to Buffalo to take on the Bison again as they start the playback of their conference schedule, winning 1-0.

After that road game, the Warriors have two home games this week. Friday at 6 p.m., they play Newcastle, and Saturday, they play No. 1 Torrington at 2 p.m.

By the end of this weekend, the Warriors will have a better idea of their conference standing and seeding for the state tournament.

The big thing Overcast wants to see from his team in this week's games is building off the positives from the rotation changes.

"Masen hadn't played forward all season but got us a goal. Tyshon hasn't played holding midfield all season, but he played really well. He was still able to get a shot off in the attack. Colt Weber, we had in the attacking midfield spot, and he played really well. Cooper [Cannon] and Martini [Moncayo] played really well at forward. Owen Page gave us a lot at one of the wing spots. There were a lot of encouraging things to build off of in the Rawlins game," said Overcast.

All team rankings are from the WyoPreps coaches and media soccer polls.