The loss of some key seniors would seem to hurt the Manitou Springs girls soccer team, but the Mustangs will return a load of talent this spring. They went through the regular season without a loss last year before losing to Aspen in the first round of the Class 3A state tournament.
“We have a lot of talent coming back,” coach Ben Mack said. “We have a lot of good, technical players that play a good brand of soccer.”
Manitou returns a big senior leader in Abby Parker and a talented junior class that includes Madrid Mack and Erica Sherwin. Mack led the team with 17 goals last season, while Sherwin was second with 14, but also accounted for a team-high 12 assists.
Despite the loss of those six key seniors, Madrid Mack believes this team has the potential to generate a result similar to last season.
“We have some big shoes to fill for that,” she said. “We have a better schedule and we play a lot more teams that are at our level. That should better prepare us for playoffs.”
As is typical of the early spring season, the Mustangs are encountering days where practice is being forced indoors. But with a group of players who are familiar with each other, overall preparation shouldn’t be affected.
That includes several basketball players who played in the season-ending loss on Friday, March 4, then turned around and immediately began to work on the soccer field the very next day.
“They all got off that Friday,” Ben Mack said. “They were troupers and every single one of them showed up at 6:45 the next morning.”
That’s the kind of work ethic Mack is looking for from his squad.