Photos by Samantha Davis: Fairmont's Harper Artz pokes the puck away from Marshall in the first period of a Big South Conference prep girls hockey game at the Red Baron Arena in Marshall Thursday night.

MARSHALL — Although battling in a defensively-competitive second and third period, the Fairmont girls hockey team suffered an 5-0 Big South Conference loss to No. 7 Marshall Thursday night on the road.

Marshall took a 4-0 lead in the first period with goals from three different players. The Cardinals turned the notch up on their defense in the following two periods to limit the goals and more open looks for the Tigers, but couldn’t quite find their rhythm on the offensive end to embark on a comeback. Marshall overall outshot the Cardinals 45-13.

“​​Certainly we know when we play Marshall, that we’re going to spend time in the defensive zone, and we have to be disciplined and structurally sound,” Fairmont head coach Aaron Haycraft said. “Marshall is a tremendously fast team and physical team, and we know that. They’re really well coached, they play fast, and we knew we had to start winning pucks below the goal line, and I thought we did that way better the second and third period. I’m proud of our effort all game.”

The Tigers also defeated the Cardinals earlier in the season 7-1 on Nov. 20.

Fairmont goalie Alexis Sundeen was in the net for the Cardinals, finishing with an impressive 40 saves.

Fairmont entered the Thursday matchup coming off a dominant 8-1 conference win over Worthington Tuesday night, powered by a four-goal second period. Kynlee Beemer and Alexis Haycraft both had a pair of goals in the victory, along with Haycraft’s team-high 5 points with three assists.

The Cardinals, who have maintained a winning record all season, were also one of five extra teams who received votes in the latest state ranking coaches poll released on Tuesday, as the end of the regular season approaches at the end of the month.

Fairmont had two close looks to score a goal in the first two minutes of the game, with Marshall goalie Lily Stelter blocking both shots.

At the 5:11 mark, Eme DeMuth got the Tigers on the board first with a goal unassisted.

Marshall’s speed made an early difference maker in keeping control of the pace of the game, making a habit to interrupt the Cardinal’s offense and beating them to the puck.

“As the season has continued, we’re playing a lot of really good teams, and we’ve got some really good teams coming up that we got to play as well, sure that the ultimate goal is to get back to that state tournament,” Marshall assistant coach Derek Smith said. “It’s every day, continuing to just get better and get better, because teams are not going to get worse that we’re playing. We got to make sure that we’re ready, and be at our peak when the time matters, when sections come.”

After Marshall kept possession and had a few back-to-back shot attempts, Brooklyn Mauch scored on a power play at 11:51 with an assist from Abbey Foley and Peyton DeMuth. Fairmont’s Carly Gustafson was called for a minor tripping penalty.

Fairmont’s Halyn Haycraft nearly had an immediate response to get the Cardinals on the board, yet Stelter came up with the save again just as Peyton DeMuth scored in return a minute and a half later, assisted by Mauch, to give the Tigers a 3-0 edge.

Marshall scored its last three goals of the first period in the span of two minutes, as Mauch scored her second with a feed from Ava Kolander skating up the left side of the goal to send the puck into the back right for the Tigers’ 4-0 lead.

“We know everything about Marshall and what they are all about. We’re very confident with how they’re going to play … They’re really fast and they move the puck really well, so that’s not a surprise to us and it’s a compliment to them,” coach Haycraft said. “We have to be really disciplined. Our effort was there the whole time. It’s just that first period, we had way too many breakdowns.”

Mariel Parish also had a close call for the Cardinals, continuing to show fight, as the first period neared an end and looked to pass the puck for an assist just in front of Stelter after crashing to the crease, which Stelter tipped out.

Marshall outshot Fairmont 21-5 in the first.

Marshall controlled a majority of the possession time in the second period, although Fairmont honed in on its defense more aggressively by disrupting the passing lanes, limiting the Tigers to one goal and less shot attempts.

Sundeen stood strong in the net with a string of blocked shots to open the second.

Yet, in the 11th minute, Eme DeMuth found an open Lucie Pearson after stealing the puck back in Fairmont territory who found the back of the net for a 5-0 Marshall lead.

Marshall kept its foot on the gas the rest of the way on both ends of the rink, withholding Fairmont’s offensive looks to finish the night.

Fairmont (8-6-2) will look to get back in the win column when it returns home to host Albert Lea (9-5) on Monday at 7 p.m. The Cardinals last home game of the regular season is slated for Jan. 29 against Windom.

“We’re going to keep trying to get better every day, especially like these games that help us. These are really fun games for us to play, and they get excited for it,” coach Haycraft said about entering the final regular season stretch. “We played hard the entire game, and certainly improved as the game went on, which I was super excited to see. We’ll carry that and try to make some momentum and build some confidence from that. Keep working hard in the practice, and keep plugging away and improving everyday.”