MARSHALL — Fairmont Area got the Tiger off its back.

Marshall took one-score wins each of the past four times the Tigers and Cardinals matched up in boys soccer action, including a 1-0 decision one day less than one year ago to eliminate Fairmont Area from the 2018 Section 2A playoffs.

This time, it was the Cardinals taking a 2-1 overtime win over the Tigers in a second-round Section 2A playoff game at Mattke Field on the Southwest Minnesota State University campus in Marshall on Thursday night.

With the win, No. 10-seeded Fairmont Area (9-8-1) advances to face the No. 2-seeded Mankato West Scarlets in a sectional quarterfinal at Caswell Park in North Mankato at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. No. 7-seeded Marshall ended its season with a record of 7-5-4.

“It feels really, really good,” Cardinal head coach Brady Meyer said. “It feels really good to get them (Marshall) finally on the third time. And in the most important of the games, too.”

After a scoreless first half and a 1-1 second half, the game went to golden-goal overtime.

Fairmont Area needed only 46 seconds to end the matchup.

The Cardinals pushed the ball upfield, then a kick from Juan Santana Sanz bounced high off a Marshall defender toward Joshua Bergt. Bergt volleyed the ball from waist height and snuck it into the bottom right corner of the net to end the matchup.

“It was amazing,” Bergt said. “I’ve always heard about professionals when they say they don’t know how to explain how it feels to score a winning goal. I finally get what that’s like. It’s so amazing, I can’t explain it.”

Bergt was swarmed by teammates on the field to celebrate.

After a scoreless wet opening half, the rain slowed down and the teams sped up. Marshall used one of its eight second-half shots on goal to get the first score of the matchup midway through the period.

The Tigers had a corner-kick opportunity, which turned into a shot on goal via a header, but the shot was blocked by Fairmont Area goalie Tyson Geerdes. Mookey Stee collected the ensuing rebound for Marshall and hit the ball squarely into the bottom left corner of the net.

Meyer said after the Tigers took a lead, the Cardinals made some adjustments.

“We just made some changes up top,” Meyer said. “We were really trying to make an emphasis on who our outlets were and making sure that they were there and ready to go.”

Marshall looked to close out its win with only 10 minutes remaining and no shots on goal allowed in the second half, but Juan Santana Sanz was able to net the equalizer for the Cardinals.

Kaleb Hoye worked his way past a Marshall defender and flipped a pass to Santana Sanz in the middle of the goalie box. Santana Sanz connected on a shot into the bottom-right corner of the twine on the Cardinals’ only shot on goal of the half.

Meyer said the Cardinals fought hard through tough conditions.

“I’m not cold anymore,” Meyer said with a laugh. “We battle through, especially with this cold and rain. We knew what we needed to do today, we made our adjustments after the first half and it obviously paid off for us today.”

Because of the rain, neither team was able to gain momentum in the first half. The Tigers and Cardinals each hit two shots on goal in the opening period and both teams had trouble maintaining possession and making accurate passes.

Tyson Geerdes made nine saves to net the win for the Cardinals.

Fairmont 0-1-1–2

Marshall 0-1-0–1

Scoring Plays

1st Half

No Scoring.

2nd Half

MAR–Mookey Stee (unassisted), 23:54.

FA–Juan Santana Sanz (Kaleb Hoye), 9:42.

Overtime

FA–Joshua Bergt (unassisted), 9:14.

Shots on goal: Fairmont Area 2-1-1–4; Marshall 2-8-0–10. Corners: Fairmont Area 1-1-0–2; Marshall 3-5-0–8.

Saves: Tyson Geerdes (FA) 2-7-0–9; Tristan VanDeVere (MAR) 2-0-0–2.