Manitou Springs junior Kai Thomas (11) fends off a Bayfield player on Aug. 27 in Bayfield.
A long road trip to start the season can be a useful team-building tool. And that’s exactly what it looked to be as the Manitou Springs boys soccer team trekked to Colorado’s southwest corner for games against Bayfield and Pagosa Springs.
The trip proved successful as the Mustangs beat Bayfield 3-1 on Aug. 27 before taking down Pagosa Springs 1-0 on Aug. 28.
With a lot of youth and plenty of different faces on the field for the team this year, the games’ results — although important — won’t play as much of a role later in the season as the time they spend together getting a feel for the squad’s overall dynamic.
“It helps our team to get know each other a lot better,” junior forward Andrew Rhodes said. “For a six-hour bus ride, for us to go and win two games, it’s a big chemistry thing for us and crucial that we got to do that together.”
The Mustangs (2-0 overall) took a 2-1 edge over the Wolverines at halftime before senior Anton Akse scored his second goal of the day. He and sophomore Evan Yount netted the two goals in the first half. Senior keeper Connor O’Brien turned away six shots, but let one get by him.
He was much better when he needed to be against Pagosa. The Mustangs scored just once as Rhodes got his first goal of the year and O’Brien got his first shutout win of the year.
On top of getting two wins, the Mustangs started feeling out the team chemistry and dynamic. Among the many good things to come out of the trip was an understanding of how the players will interact with each other differently than last year’s team.
“We can’t get down on each other,” Rhodes said. “Since there is a lot of new people, we’re not that close (yet) and we can’t really say certain things to each other.”
The Mustangs played their first home game Wednesday, Sept. 1, against Faith Christian, but the result was not available at press time.