Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall midfielder Adrian Perez dribbles the ball down the sideline during a non-conference boys soccer game against Southwest Minnesota Christian in Marshall on Monday.

MARSHALL — A pair of goals in the opening minutes of the Marshall boys soccer team’s non-conference matchup against Southwest Minnesota Christian on Monday sealed the victory in favor of the Eagles. The Tigers never recovered from the early deficit and fell 2-0.

It was no secret ahead of the match that Southwest would be a challenging team, coming off a win over one of the area’s top teams, Worthington, the other week. Marshall head coach Tony Correa said the Tigers knew that Southwest would be a fast, tall, strong and physical team. As such, Marshall wanted to play their own game and focus on passing rather than trying to win in the same playstyle as the Eagles, but the Tigers were caught slacking a few times defensively and Southwest took advantage.

Southwest Christian took the lead in the game’s sixth minute, getting out on a fast break and scoring after getting the ball close in the box. Two minutes later, the Eagles recovered another rebound in the box after their initial shot was knocked away, and the second-chance effort found the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Defensively, Marshall adjusted for the rest of the game and prevented the Eagles from getting any further looks. On the rare occasion Southwest got close, Jameson Cornell deflected the shot, finishing the day with six saves.

Despite the final score, Marshall was often able to control possession and got off more looks in the offensive zone. As a team, Marshall tallied 19 shots on the night, but some errant kicks and quality goaltending from the Eagles kept Marshall off the scoreboard.

“I told these guys, why are we waiting? Why are we not positioned right?” Correa said. “We’re not pointing fingers at anyone, we all need work… but at the end of the day, we need to finish our plays and we didn’t. That goalie had a great night, but we kept kicking it right at him. We’ve got to find placement and finish our plays. I think if we would have, we would have brought it back some.”

Marshall falls to 4-3 on the season with the loss, and looks to bounce back tonight when it heads to St. James High School for a Big South Conference matchup against Wings United (0-3-1) at 7 p.m.

“We need them [the conference standing points], so we need to not even make a statement to anyone else, we need to make a statement for ourselves that our subs can keep up and our starters are doing the right things to give these guys a break,” Correa said. “We don’t want guys playing the whole game thinking they’re not replaceable… As long as you’re going to work hard, you’re going to play.”