Photo by Emily Daniels Marshall’s Emma Mernaugh controls the ball during their game against Fairmont on Thursday. The Tigers fell to the Cardinals 4-1.

MARSHALL – The Marshall girls soccer team used strong efforts on both ends of the field but saw one lone goal on offense and couldn’t keep up with Fairmont as the Tigers fell to the Cardinals 4-1 Thursday night.

Despite the loss, Marshall coach Jesus Hernandez saw a lot of positive things from the team and was proud of the way they fought through the whole night.

“We’ve seen a big change from the last couple of games we played before this,” said Hernandez. “Mentallywise and they had a lot of aggressiveness out there and that’s exactly what we asked them in the beginning. The score doesn’t reflect what the game was played like. I’m really proud of what the girls played like out there.”

The Tigers got the first half off started to a fast 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal from Lenei Estrada, who is a returner on the squad and a big asset to the team. The Cardinals held their own and kept the ball on their offensive side of the field for a majority of the game which forced the Tigers to keep their defensive efforts strong and keep their head in the game. Fairmont found its opportunity and scored a goal to tie up the game at 1-1. Neither team could find the back of the net for the remainder of the period going into the second half tied up at 1-1.

Marshall went into the second half with high hopes and the determination to win at their home field and pick up its first win of the season. With the strengths of the Cardinals offense picking up, the Tigers defense lacked early, giving Fairmont another goal with 33:45 remaining in the second half and the Cardinals taking the lead 2-1. The energy from the Tigers bench started to pick up after Fairmont scored another goal, trying to get Marshall to hit the back of the net to tie the game back up. The energy from the bench got the Tigers goalie Raini Grams to hold her place in the net and deflect the Cardinals’ shot attempts, but Fairmont’s strengths pushed past that and scored another goal with 20:14 remaining on the clock and took a bigger lead at 3-1. The Cardinals didn’t stop there, as they continued their strengths on offense and scored another goal with 15:35 left, growing their lead to 4-1.

The Tigers will be on the road on Tuesday to play the New Ulm Eagles. Going into the game against the Eagles the Tigers are looking for their first win of the season.

Going into their next game, Hernandez said their biggest takeaway will be continuing to show heart on the field and stay aggressive.

“Playing with their heart out there and just being aggressive. Trying to get to every ball, which we didn’t see much last game,” said Hernandez. “I think that’s our takeaway from tonight’s game. We want to keep doing that and just keep working on the game as a whole.”