ABOVE: Fairmont’s Evan Reyelts and Marshall’s Sabino Us Jimon jostle for position during the first half of Tuesday night’s contest at Jeffery Kot Field.

FAIRMONT – It was a tale of two halves during Tuesday night’s boys soccer match between Fairmont Area and Marshall at Jeffery Kot Field.

Despite a 5-1 Big South Conference victory over the Cardinals, the Tigers were only able to muster one goal in the second period of play.

Fairmont used a new defensive tactic to neutralize Marshall’s attack, even scoring a goal with 20 minutes remaining before the final buzzer went off.

Nonetheless, Marshall advanced to 7-6 on the season, while Fairmont fell to 3-7. The Tigers outshot the Cardinals 10-5, respectively.

Marshall’s offensive rhythm started early and often, with forwards Karsten Springborg and Sabino Us Jimon to constantly attack Fairmont’s back line.

It was Isaiah MacMurchy who tallied the first score of the day at the 32-minute mark of the initial half. After receiving a pass from Samuel Foster from the right side of the net, the sophomore ripped the ball past Fairmont goalkeeper Brody Deuel to get his team on the board.

The scoring continued for Marshall just three minutes later. Jimon collected the ball at midfield after jostling for position with a couple of Cardinal defenders. Using his lightning-fast dribbling skills, the forward maneuvered his way deep into Fairmont’s net before scoring his first of three goals on the evening.

Jimon and Steven Arias punched in two more goals at the 13- and 12-minute marks of the first period, giving the Tigers a commanding four-score cushion at the break.

With their backs against the wall and looking to prevent further damage, Fairmont’s head coach, Brady Meyer, decided to adjust some defensive tactics to neutralize the Tiger scoring attack. Mixing and matching his back line, Meyer saw this unit play well in the final 40 minutes of the game.

“We had to make some adjustments,” Meyer said. “Second half, I think we finally found our groove with it. Second half was good.”

Deuel’s ability quickly stopped two early threats on goal from Adrian Perez and Jimon at the 38- and 26-minute mark, helping out his defense in keeping the Tigers at four goals.

Eventually, however, Marshall was able to break through with yet another goal from Jimon, who again used his speed to wiggle his way past the defense before completing the hat trick with 22 minutes on the clock.

“He’s a senior, he’s fast, and he never gives up on the play,” Marshall head coach Antonio Correa said. “I’m always expecting him to score, so it was good that he didn’t give up on any plays and made the rest of the guys work.”

Fairmont tallied this score with one of their own less than two minutes later.

Midfielder Angel Sanchez received a pass from Luis Martin around deep outside of the box for Marshall. After a couple of nifty dribbles calmed his body, the senior ripped the ball to the back of the net to break the scoring drought.

“That’s something we need to build off of for our next game on Thursday,” Meyer said. “He [Angel] can really change the whole game with the way he plays. When he’s connecting with the back of the net there, he takes ownership of the entire game.”

Sanchez had another opportunity on goal moments later.

After both Sanchez and Marshall goalkeeper Caden Hess collided by the net while fighting for a loose ball, it was Hess who received the yellow card to force an immediate leave from the contest.

Sanchez’s penalty kick was snuffed by the new Tiger goalie, Jameson Cornell, who dove to his right to prevent a second Cardinals score.

Fairmont continues the 2025 campaign on Thursday with a road matchup against Worthington. Marshall will play a home contest this Thursday against Wings United. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.