Fairmont wins eighth straight after taking down Marshall
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FAIRMONT - The Fairmont Area and Marshall girls’ soccer programs have separated themselves as some of the top contenders in the Big South Conference since their last meeting on September 10. Since that 1-1 tie, the Cardinals and Tigers entered Tuesday's rematch with win streaks of seven and four games, respectively. Something had to give on the slick and muddy conditions at Jeffery Kot Field.
It was Fairmont Area that got the upper hand. After going into the intermission at one apiece, the Cardinals notched three goals past Tristynn Justesen to secure the 4-1 victory. It's the eighth straight win for head coach Matt Nielsen and moves his team to 10-2-2 on the season.
"The kids were pretty down after we started 2-2," Nielsen said. "I came to practice and showed last year's games. ...We were exactly where we were last year. ...I told them to calm down because it was a long season, and it can play out lots of ways, but they've just continued to get better."
Five of the Cardinals’ last seven games have been on home turf. Over that stretch, the recent wave of rain has made the playing field difficult to move on at times. Tuesday was similarly challenging. However, it didn't impact Fairmont's style of play. A style that requires constant movement and pressure on the opponent.
"One thing I'm really proud of is that they embraced this field tonight," Nielsen said. "You can call it soupy, sloppy, or marshy; it was anything but a normal soccer field, and they embraced it. ...We handled the circumstances of the field really well in all of these games. Where the circumstances of the field really mattered."
The 1-1 halftime score was a bit misleading from actual gameplay. Elsie Deutz's 7:32 goal answered a previous penalty kick shot from Olive Kawecki four minutes prior. But it was the Cardinals who dominated possession.
Constant pressure from Fairmont midfielders led to four more shots on net and a handful of corner kicks. However, besides Kawecki's execution on the one-on-one with Justesen, the Cardinals just had one score to show at the break. Nielsen was confident that would change.
"We decided to start on the soupiest end of the field. Addison [Folkerts] told us she just wanted to get it over with," Nielsen said. "And the only score on her came after she made the [initial] stop. She was literally stuck in the mud. ...We felt like in the second half that [Tristynn Justesen] was going to have to deal with that mud. If we started spraying the ball and moving her laterally, she would get stuck in the mud as well."
It took 14 minutes for Marshall's defense to start feeling the field's adversities. Abbie Simpson placed a perfect pass from the penalty area's right side to find Kawecki on the opposite corner. Kawecki took one dribble before lacing a ball to the opposite post and in.
Mollie Leiding called her own name after receiving a pass from Makenzie Gerhardt at center net. Leiding pushed her way past a few white jerseys before striking one past the post and into the white twine.
Simpson put on the finishing touches with two minutes to play. The senior dribbled from the right side of the field to the left without any challenge. After a quick look at the net, Simpson fired that placed her team up three possession. The shots were bound to fall eventually for Fairmont. They finished Tuesday with 11 attempts at the net and seven corner kicks.
The Cardinals conclude their regular season this Thursday with a road contest against Worthington. First kick is set to start at 7:00 p.m.