ABOVE: Fairmont midfielder Mollie Leiding prepares to cross the ball to midfield during Tuesday night's contest against St. James/Windom/Madelia.

FAIRMONT – Success isn’t earned by one individual.

It’s earned by a cohesive unit of players coming together in hopes of achieving any goals or milestones set by the team during the preseason.

That was the mantra from Fairmont Area girls soccer head coach Matt Nielsen heading into Tuesday night’s contest against St. James/Windom/Madelia: the idea that team success comes from all.

“I told them before the game that, ‘Hey, every one of you has a chance to contribute, it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, defenders never get credit for scoring goals,'” Nielsen said. “I think they are all realizing there are no individual banners at Fairmont High School for soccer players; you get it as a team.”

It was that team effort that led to the Cardinals’ 3-0 victory over the Wings at Jeffery Kot Fields.

Despite the game being called with 31 minutes remaining due to lightning, Fairmont controlled the contest from both sides of the ball, holding their opponent to zero shots on goal while constantly applying pressure with the offense.

Things got going early for the Cardinals at the 38-minute mark of the first half. After controlling the ball possession for most of the first minute and change, Frankie Martin found the back of the net after her cross attempt deflected off a Wing player and into the goal.

The offense stayed aggressive for the next 25 minutes of the game. Cardinal forwards were staying on top of the St. James/W/M back line, peppering goalkeeper Catalina Perez with a handful of shots at the net and forcing mistakes to happen.

“We are taking shots, they are taking shots,” Nielsen said. “We have to fix our mechanics a little bit, but they are looking for shots and not the perfect shot.”

Fairmont got on the scoreboard again with just under 10 minutes left in the first, this time from a free kick by Grace Kotewa. After receiving the shot on the far-right side of the field, Kotewa pummeled the ball through Perez’s fingertips to convert the long-distance score heading to halftime.

The Cardinal offensive attack continued its momentum early in the second half. With a corner kick opportunity from the right side of the field at hand, Lauren Zarling collected the loose ball after the attempt. The midfielder strung together a handful of crafty dribbles before firing a shot past the top part of the net to tack on to the lead.

While this was just one instance of success, Nielsen was impressed with Zarling’s efforts the entire night.

“Her footwork was beautiful,” Nielsen said, describing Zarling’s efforts throughout the night. “Lauren had moments of true, beautiful, game soccer. It was just a pleasure to see her moving that ball around the midfield.”

A series of lightning strikes occurred minutes later in the contest. After gathering both teams off the field, Fairmont High School Activities Director Mat Mahoney decided to finish the contest as is during the 31-minute mark of the second half.

Defensively, Nielsen’s group played its best game of the season thus far.

The Cardinals’ back line fueled many offensive pushes throughout the contest after staying aggressive anytime they touched the ball, something Nielsen hadn’t seen over the past couple of weeks.

“Her footwork was beautiful,” Nielsen said, describing Zarling’s efforts throughout the night. “Lauren had moments of true, beautiful, game soccer. It was just a pleasure to see her moving that ball around the midfield.”

Fairmont continues its season on Thursday with a home contest against Marshall. Action at Jeffery Kot Field is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Fairmont Area JV

Allissa Moore powered the Cardinals’ junior varsity team past the Wings on Tuesday night, scoring two goals while tallying one assist.

Addy Urban tacked on two goals of her own. Kaylin Schutz rounded off the Fairmont scorers with one goal on the night.

Goalkeeper Megan Hector finished off the game with nine saves.