The Manitou Springs girls soccer team had a chance to bring home a second straight league championship but failure to cash in on scoring opportunities, as well as some creative officiating, resulted in the team dropping just its third game of the season.
The Mustangs walked out of UCCS Mountain Lions Stadium after falling to Colorado Springs Christian School 2-1 on Tuesday, May 3.
A first-half goal actually put the Mustangs (11-3-1 overall, 5-1 Tri-Peaks) ahead of the Lions, but an equalizer late in the first half and another goal early in the second put CSCS ahead.
For a brief moment, the Mustangs appeared to score an equalizer, but the officials waived it off after deciding that the CSCS keeper had control of the ball, which wasn’t the case.
“It’s devastating when you’re down one and find that equalizer and pushing, trying to find that equalizer and it finally comes, and then for some reason it gets pulled back from you,” coach Ben Mack said. “It’s hard to come back mentally from that.”
The loss comes on the heels of a crucial win, however, as Manitou hit the road to Salida and beat the Spartans 4-1 on April 28. Grace McCumber scored two goals, including the game winner for Manitou. Erica Sherwin and Julia Mayne also scored in that win.
The Mustangs now await the release of the Class 3A state tournament bracket to see what their matchups will look like.
Last season, they rolled through the regular season undefeated before getting stunned by Aspen in the tournament’s first round. Coming off a loss heading into postseason play might create a different mentality for the team this time around.
“This isn’t a spot we want to be in and that (loss to CSCS) hurt quite a bit,” Abby Parker said. “It’s better that it happens this week and not next week.”
As of the morning of May 4, the Mustangs were sitting at No. 8 in the Colorado High School Activities Association RPI, which plays a major role in the seeding formula used to create the bracket. CHSAA will release the state tournament matchups over the weekend.