“One of the key ideas in the way I coach is that the game should be played horizontally and not vertically. The vertical game is definitely important; you want to be able to play that. But you don’t just want to play that when it’s not there — have patience moving the ball side-to-side,” said Manitou Springs’ soccer coach Ben Mack
“Then when that little slip ball or vertical ball is there, you know ... that green light happens!”
Manitou Springs’ coach Ben Mack couldn’t have really been more pleased with how ninth-ranked Mustangss adhered to his philosophy Friday afternoon in Bayfield. The Mustangs pullied out a season-opening 3-1 win, punctuated by senior Anton Akse’s lengthy run — with an Evan Yount pass — paralleling the teams’ sideline and producing a 63rd-minute clincher.
The inter-league action’s intensity was, however, established long before through x- and y-axis excellence.
His net already threatened by multiple MSHS side-net near-misses and one shot fortunately off the upper crossbar, Wolverine goalkeeper Gavin Davis managed to keep the match scoreless with a full-extension dive to his right, and a right-handed, 18th-minute deflection of a Mustang attempt from not even ten yards away.
That was the horizontal; Manitou Springs soon received full value via the vertical, when senior Max Goede lofted a free kick from roughly 30 yards out, angling it back-post to Davis’ right and towards tall target Akse. Akse then not only out leaped a BHS defender to win the ball, but redirected a crushing header just over Davis’ outstretched fingers and netted the icebreaker in the upper corner behind the senior’s left.
“We want to keep the ball in the attack as much as we can, wait for those right times to go vertical,” Mack said. “And they did well with that.”
With no choice but to find new motivation, the Wolverines (0-2, 0-0 3A Southwestern) wasted little time in battling back. Awarded a free kick in front of MSHS’ bench, roughly 25 yards away from visiting keeper Connor O’Brien, Bayfield senior captain Caleb Donelan incredibly rainbowed in his shot, tying the contest at 1-1 in the 28th.
“And that’s got to feel good,” said Bayfield boss Chris Zoltowski. “I mean, we’ve been working on free kicks all the time and they’ve learned to find their range. I think in that moment, he decided to step up — and he earned that.”
“Those boys really had heart,” Zoltowski continued. “I mean, they inspired me the way they fought and continued to fight. They played like that was going to be the game-winner!”
But Manitou Springs (1-0, 0-0 3A Tri-Peaks) would regain the upper hand in the 32nd minute, when Yount converted an Akse assist for an advantage which held into intermission inside a buzzing Wolverine Country Stadium.
Davis would unofficially finish with 12 total saves, and had plenty of help in blanking the non-stop Mustangs during the second half. Zoltowski was proud to point out the defensive work of junior Andy Monger, Brandon Wursten, senior Tristan French, and sophomore Shae Railsback —recipient of a 50th-minute yellow card for a brief altercation — in denying MSHS players like junior Andrew Rhodes, senior Sean Lowe and junior Luke Donegan.
“It was tough … not having Silas (Wilbourn, injured) with us,” said Zoltowski, “but Andy back there — he’d never played the position before — he stepped up. I’m proud of him and Shae. But Brandon, as a sophomore I am super-excited about his future.”
The Wolverines will now have a Saturday off — because of Colorado Springs St. Mary’s having to reschedule — and will next play at 4 p.m. Sept. 7, at 4A Kirtland, N.M., Central.
