Courtesy of Joel Priest, the Durango Herald. Mariah Johnson fights off a Bayfield player late in Manitou’s victory on Friday, April 1.

Before the season started, Manitou Springs girls soccer coach Ben Mack identified five key games his players need to compete well in to have a chance at a special season. It just so happened that two of those games were back-to-back on the schedule, giving the Mustangs a tough challenge early in the year.

But they stepped up and accepted those challenges, getting 4-0 wins over Denver Christian and Cañon City last week.

“(Of the five games I pointed out), if we could win three of those five, I thought we’d be sitting pretty good,” Mack said. “If we got two of those five, I figured we’d be OK.”

So at worst, the Mustangs (6-1-1 overall, 1-0 Tri-Peaks) are in a good spot. The other three games Mack had identified were Jefferson Academy (a 2-0 loss on March 15), Lutheran (coming up April 16) and Colorado Springs Christian School (May 3).

As of now, they certainly have momentum on their side, and that includes opening league play with a 10-0 win over James Irwin on April 12. 

And what’s more important than the games they’re winning is how they’re winning them. The Mustangs were sure to get solid scoring from Erica Sherwin and Madrid Mack, but the supplemental offense has been good, as well.

Sami Benge-Kulzer has scored in four of the past five games and has five total goals on the season. She and players such as Cassidy Kuzbek have added a different dimension to Manitou’s offensive scheme.

“All of us have skills that aren’t shown that often,” Benge-Kulzer said. “You don’t get to see us as much as you’d see Madrid, but when you put us all together, we work really well as a team. We’ve built a good foundation.”

They’ll get to see how solid that foundation is later in the week. The Mustangs play at home Thursday, April 14, for the first time in more than a month when they face Atlas Prep.

Then they host Lutheran on Saturday. The CHSAANow.com coaches poll named the Lions the No. 1 team in the state this week. The Mustangs entered the poll on April 4 and held their spot at No. 9.