Different day, same schtick for Manitou Springs girls soccer.

Despite losing 11 seniors from last season’s 3A state runner-up team, the Mustangs continue to blast the competition.

The No. 7-seeded Mustangs eased past No. 26 Englewood 3-0 on Thursday night at Manitou Springs High School to advance to the second round.

Manitou Springs’ win marked its third consecutive first-round victory.

However, Mustangs coach Ben Mack said players must capitalize on scoring opportunities in future rounds.

“We didn’t play a perfect game, but we played well enough to win,” Mack said. “There are a lot of things to clean up and learn from. But it’s better to have that knowledge in a win than to learn it in a loss.”

This year, the Mustangs’ roster features just two seniors, but still boasts a wealth of experience. Manitou Springs managed an 11-2-1 regular-season record.

The Mustangs also had to replace Madrid Mack, their electric striker from last season, who finished with 31 goals.

This year, Kara Donegan shouldered the scoring load and ended the regular season with 16 goals in 14 games, which is four more than in 2023.

Donegan helped the Mustangs build a 2-0 first-half lead with a pair of strikes she netted from corner kicks.

The Mustangs’ junior’s first goal came in the eighth minute of the match and Donegan struck once more in the 34th minute.

“That [second goal] was a ricochet and I just turned it,” Donegan said. “Having the hunger to win those out of the air are crucial. Those are shots we have to put in.”

Elisa Karr gave the Mustangs a 3-0 cushion in the 65th minute through a plethora of Pirate players.

Karr said she had to find the ball after a feed from Annika Kuzbek. The pass “was so on point,” that the freshman required little effort to tap in the shot.

“Annika made a beautiful cross from the outside and the ball went right in front of the goal,” Karr said. “It was right there, so it just hit my head and it went in. That was perfect for me.”

The Mustangs will face No. 10 Roaring Fork at 1 p.m. Saturday at Manitou Springs. Mack said he’s hopeful for cleaner play in the second round.

Manitou Springs won its ninth game this season via shut out with the victory against the Pirates. But the coach warned his team that goals don’t come cheap in the postseason.

“We played well at different phases of the game and I felt comfortable with our backline,” Mack said. “But I think we got a little impatient at times and … didn’t create better scoring chances. The ones we did create, we didn’t do a good job of finishing those. After the game, I told them that against a better opponent, those are going to come back and bite us.”

Donegan agreed with those sentiments and said they’ll be better against Roaring Fork.

The Mustangs thought this season would be a rebuilding year after losing a slew of seniors, but Donegan said their success highlights their capabilities.

Now, Donegan wants to make sure the Mustangs continue to thrive.

“We understand that things won’t be as good as last year. But we expect everyone to show up and show out,” Donegan said. “We had a lot of chances that we missed – I had some, too – and we had some open goals and couldn’t finish. Going forward, those will be more crucial and we’re going to finish them.”