Fairmont tops Worthington girls soccer team, 12-0

WORTHINGTON -- A tall, deep, quick and talented Fairmont Cardinals girls soccer squad rolled past Worthington Tuesday night at Buss Field, 12-0.

It was the second match of the season for the Trojans and the first one at home, and it came on the heels of a 6-1 loss in New Ulm on Friday -- a loss that was significant in that the Trojans played very well for much of the game.

But Fairmont isn’t New Ulm, and throughout two 40-minute halves the Cardinals controlled things on Tuesday, putting up five goals in the first half and seven more in the second.

“That was rough,” WHS head coach Emily Ahlquist said after it was over. “Ultimately, they came out of the gate a lot quicker than we were. They’re a lot taller and faster than we were. (We) did not play like the way we did the other day.”

Fairmont got its first goal with just seven minutes elapsed in the first half as freshman forward Elayna Anderson received a long forward pass and maneuvered it ahead for a kick from 20 yards away into the lower left corner.

About four minutes later teammate Maddie Maakestad scored on a pass that landed behind the Worthington defense. Allison Janssen scored on a header with 12:03 remaining in the half. Then at 8:40 it was another pass past the Worthington defense that was booted into the net by Rayah Quiring.

For the last 30 yards between her and the Trojans’ goal, Quiring had no opposition.

Through most of the contest, Worthington’s defense was slow to react to the quicker Cardinals.

“We’re working on our conditioning. It’s not going to change overnight,” Ahlquist said.

In the second half, Fairmont scored in a variety of ways, and the scores came at regular intervals: with 33:42 to go, at 25:05, 19:15, 11:12, 5:59, 4:23 and 1:42.

For the game, the visitors attempted 27 shots to Worthington’s two. Both of Worthington’s shots came in the first half.

Things may soon get better for the Trojans, however. They travel on Friday to play Mankato Loyola, a team that’s more their style.