Staff photo by Jake Olson Fairmont senior midfielder Angel Sanchez operates in the middle of the field against Tri City United at Jeffery Kot Fields on Thursday night.

FAIRMONT – For nearly 70 minutes of play, the Fairmont Area boys soccer team and Tri City United were neck and neck at Jeffery Kot Fields on Thursday night, as the scoreboard showed both teams tied at zero in the waning moments of the contest.

With overtime looking more and more likely as 11 minutes remained, the Titans brought out a late offensive surge, scoring four goals in the waning moments of the game to take the victory.

While still walking away with a loss, Fairmont head coach Brady Meyer was happy with a lot of things he saw during this Big South conference matchup.

“I thought our guys played really well today,” Meyer said after the defeat. “Very well disciplined for the most part of the game. One of the top teams in our conference and section, had it 0-0 until the last 10 minutes. Obviously we still have a few things to work on, and we will continue to work on them and get stronger.”

The game started off with both teams flexing their defensive prowess. Much of this defensive effort was highlighted by Fairmont goalkeeper Brody Deuel, who finished his night racking up with 12 saves.

Deuel’s efforts kept Fairmont in the game for a majority of the night. At the 15, 13, and 6 minute mark of the first half, fans and players saw the junior lunging to both sides of the net to keep the Titans offense at bay.

“He ended up being our player of the game today because of that,” Meyer said. “He kept us in the game, kept us positive and motivated out there on the field, and he came up big while keeping our guys spirits up. It was great to see that leadership from our keeper today.”

Fairmont’s offensive attack was able to gain a lot of momentum before the first half buzzer sounded. Xavier Garcia, Ricardo Morales Herrera, and Luis Martin all put together a handful of looks at the net during the halves final 13 minutes, putting pressure on goalkeeper Nicolas Mendez and the rest of the Titan defensive line.

Nonetheless, both teams found themselves knotted at zero apiece going into the break. The Cardinals had three shots on goal compared to Tri City United’s five.

The beginning portion of the second half started similar to the first. It was again a handful of impressive saves from Deuel to keep Meyer’s team tied with the Titans.

With 21 minutes left in the half, Tri City United had their best look of the night thus far.

Receiving a deep pass from the Titan defensive line, Giovanni Gomez had a break away chance on the goal while weaving in and out of Cardinal jerseys. Deuel aggressively charged the Tri City United forward, forcing a shot on goal that deflected off his fingertips and hitting the top cross bar to eliminate the threat.

Fairmont did have a pair of shots on goal by Marco Morales Chavez at the 18 and 13 minute mark of the half, one coming off a free kick while the other a header opportunity that was defended well by Tri City United, keeping the Cardinal offensive attack once again contained.

“We saw some openings for us in the first half and that’s what we wanted to exploit in the second half,” Meyer said. “Unfortunately we just couldn’t find the back of the net for those, but hopefully next time we will be able to find them.”

It was Tri City United’s Angel Ruiz Gomez who was ultimately able to start the upcoming avalanche of offense by the opposing team.

With 11:44 remaining, Gomez received a cross from his teammate deep into Fairmont territory. After making a couple of nifty dribbles, the sophomore placed one past the outstretched arms of Deuel’s hands to finally break the scoring drought.

The Titans followed this up with another goal just over a minute later.

Giovanni Perez received the ball on the far right side of the field following a deep pass. The forward dribbled and crossed himself back into midfield, ripping the ball with a strong kick to tack on another goal at the 10:39 mark.

Gomez and Chase Miller tacked on the remaining two scores for Tri City United, both with just three minutes remaining in the contest and putting the final nail in the coffin.

Following the game, Meyer and assistant coach Eli Redenius harped on their team the positive takeaways they can take moving forward in the season.

“We played with them, kept them 0-0, and had our scoring opportunities,” Meyer said. “We had a lot of really good things here that hopefully we can translate into other games and beat some other teams here coming up in our schedule.”

Fairmont (2-5) will continue the 2025 season next Tuesday at St. Peter. Tri City United (6-2) will play this Saturday at Jordan.