Revenge can certainly be a dish best served cold, but for the Manitou Springs girls soccer team it was best served emphatically.
After beating St. Mary’s Academy 7-0 in the first round of the Class 3A girls soccer state tournament on May 12, the Mustangs (13-4-1 overall) got another crack at Aspen, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in the first round last year.
Sami Benge-Kulzer led the way May 14 with three goals and Manitou rolled to a 6-0 win to advance to the quarterfinals, where they lost to No. 1 Kent Denver 10-0 on May 17.
It was a heartbreaking end to the season, but the feeling of getting even with Aspen is something the team will never forget.
“Everyone was a little nervous about Aspen,” Benge-Kulzer said. “But we all knew that we had the talent and the skill for it.”
Erica Sherwin added two goals against the Skiers after coming off a four-goal performance against St. Mary’s Academy, and Madrid Mack added one. With a big group of juniors on the squad this season, it was important for this team to advance as far as it could.
The saying “wait until next year” is not something that coach Ben Mack wanted applied to this team. He wanted to utilize the talent of his juniors and the experience of senior Abby Parker on the back line.
“Abby’s a heck of a player,” Mack said. “That’s going to be a huge hole to fill and who’s going to do that? I know every single middle school player and no one can come up and do that (right away) next year. So we’re going to be who we are this year, minus Abby.”
The talent level at the top of the 3A class is something the Mustangs are constantly striving for. The 10 goals they surrendered against Kent Denver matched the 10 goals they had given up the entire season to that point.
Parker will certainly be a big loss to the Mustangs, but Mack will enter next season with a similar approach. There is no waiting for success: There is only going out and grabbing it as quickly as possible.
“I’m a big believer in ‘Let’s be as good as we can be right now,’” Mack said.