Staff photo by Jake Olson Fairmont midfielder Grace Kotewa hustles down the sideline in hopes of sparking an offensive surge during Thursday night’s game against Wings United at the Jeffery Kot Soccer Complex.

FAIRMONT – There wasn’t much head coach Matt Nielsen could complain about following his No. 2 Fairmont Area girls soccer team’s 6-0 victory over No. 7 St. James/Windom/Madelia during Thursday night’s first-round matchup in the Section 2A bracket.

The two-seeded Cardinals held their opponent to zero shots on goal during the evening, scoring three goals per period before walking away with their 11th win of the season.

“I thought that our team had good focus,” Nielsen said. “The temptation in a game like this is to kind of start playing out of your head and turn it into a basketball game, where you think you are going to score 55 points and you are taking crazy shots. I thought overall, as we kind of got through the first three to five minutes, they settled into better passing and good routines.”

Nielsen’s offense seemed to start the night off with an aggressive approach on their side of the field. Forward Makenzie Gerhardt got two quick shots on goal in the first three minutes of play, immediately testing goalkeeper Abrielle Palm and her Wings United defense.

Midfielder Mollie Leiding was finally able to take advantage of one of these chances with a goal of her own at the 32-minute mark, dribbling the ball to the right side of the net before splashing a shot deep into the net.

Gerhardt pushed one past the net herself 16 minutes later after breaking away from a handful of white jerseys and capitalizing on a one-on-one opportunity with Palm in front of the net, giving the Cardinals a quick 2-0 cushion.

She secured her second and final goal of the night after utilizing a Cardinal corner kick from the right side of the field. After the ball was juggled in the air during the commotion in front of the net, Gerhardt found herself in the right place at the right time, heading one over all the Wings United defenders and into the back of the net.

Nielsen’s defense in the first half was about as textbook as you could draw it up. Nielsen’s typical back-line scheme of staying aggressive and not allowing any breakaways was essential in keeping things easy for Fairmont goalkeeper Addison Folkerts all night long.

“I was particularly pleased with Nat Johnson and Annie Reyelts, who were going up ahead of the defensive line and cleaning up a lot of those midfield balls. As the other team came in, they were getting back into the line nicely, getting back into a flat four and taking away any opportunity they would have had for shooting,” Nielsen said.

The second half began with an onslaught of goals early and often from the Fairmont midfielders, using crisp passing and crosses to get good looks at the net.

Midfielder Grace Kotewa was a catalyst for much of this offensive surge.

With 33 minutes on the clock, the senior sped down the right sideline past the Wings United back line. Kotewa was then able to stop in an instant before placing a perfect cross right into the lap of midfielder Abbie Simpson, who timed up the ball perfectly and placed a shot past the keeper.

Simpson quickly scored again, less than a minute later, on the same left side of the field. Her fast-paced shot attempt bounced off the new St. James goalkeeper, Alivia Letcher, before spinning past the front of the net to extend Fairmont’s lead to five.

Another well-timed cross from Kotewa with 30 minutes left put the early finishing touches on the contest. Similar to before, Kotewa was able to fly down the right sideline again while simultaneously scoping for any of her teammates in the area. Seeing midfielder Lauren Zarling lurking in the center of the pitch, Kotewa for the sixth and final goal of the game.

“We were worried about getting stuck in a horizontal muddle, where we were just getting stuck in the midfield and the other team was taking it away,” Nielsen said. “We were really working those horizontal lanes, and then people were trailing the ball really nicely.”

Fairmont is set to play No. 3 seed Albert Lea this Saturday at the Jeffery Kot Soccer complex. Times for this game have yet to be determined. The Cardinals saw the Tigers on Saturday, Sept 27, where Fairmont fell 1-0.