Calla Urban was overheard saying, “I just can’t stop smiling” Thursday evening. The Manitou Springs sophomore had reason to. She and her Mustangs teammates had just defeated No. 3 seed The Classical Academy 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 3A girls state soccer playoffs.After a 0-0 double overtime deadlock during the regular season and a scoreless first half in this contest, No. 6 seed Manitou Springs finally was able to find the net on junior Cassy Marshall’s penalty kick at 31:17 of the second half, somehow sending her low shot to the left off Titans goalie Tita Garcia and into the net. It wasn’t the shot Marshall was planning, but she was happy with the result.”I was very surprised,” she said. “For the past two weeks I’ve been practicing the right post. I think I just let the nerves get to me.””It’s the first time we’ve made it to the semifinals,” said coach Matt Barton, whose Mustangs have been in six quarterfinals since the program began in 1997.Freshman Kirstin Vogel sealed the victory, taking a pass from junior Stacey Guynn near midfield, Vogel worked the ball down the left sideline, cut across to the right side and slipped the ball past a diving Garcia with 19:17 to play.”I was just dribbling and they weren’t really pressing me,” said Vogel. “I didn’t think the shot would go in.””This year we thought we would go further. It just didn’t happen,” TCA coach Mike Fox said. “We’ve got a great group of girls. It’s going to be a strong team coming back.””I just feel blessed to have been able to play with great girls and a great coach,” said TCA senior Katie Stephens.”I’m just so proud to play with this team,” added senior Jamie Fox. “We’ve come so far and it was our best season ever.”Manitou Springs (14-2-2) will face No. 2 Alexander Dawson (17-1) in the 7:15 p.m. state semifinal at Denver South‘s All-City Stadium.

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