FAIRMONT โ The Fairmont girls soccer team is looking to achieve even greater success in the district tournament this fall.
Last season, the Cardinals went 5-12-1 overall and 4-7-1 in the Big South Conference, beating Cannon Falls in the playoffs but ending their season with a loss to Stewartville.
The team has been making changes to its roster during preseason training matches to determine what the best composition is this year and get the season off to a strong start.
Fairmont girls head coach Matt Nielsen said the program itself is cyclical, with players graduating and new players coming in and four players returning who are currently sophomores, so this season is a wait-and-see scenario.
โI remember four students who were in ninth grade going into second grade. [Amalia Leiding, Abbie Simpson, Francesca Martin, Mataya Weber,] “We’re just waiting to see what their engine is like,” Nielsen said, “and I think it’s going to have a lot to do with what we are, how much they’ve grown and how well they understand the game. So we’re going to look at things thoroughly.”
Nielsen said with the new changes, a judgement call will be made soon on how well the team will perform over the course of the season, but he is keeping expectations realistic.
“I don’t think there’s an expectation to go undefeated or anything like that,” Nielsen said. “This team could go 0-17 or 17-0.”
Going into the season, we will be focusing on ball control and time of possession, with everyone contributing forward and doing their best to close down the opposition and develop a high-pressure attack.
“You see it in the game, you see that two minutes into the game, if the other team is playing basketball with me at half court, they’re going to lose the ball and fall back,” Nielsen said. “Now, OK, great, they’ve given me field position, now I’m going to go on the offensive and I’m going to get some more pressure.”
The aggressive style of play applies to both sides of the ball wanting to continue the attack while the defense is set to maintain the same level of energy on the field. Nielsen has set the goal to regain possession of the ball in case of a turnover. Kennedy Becker, Mataya Weber, Cadence Ryding and Kenzie Gerhardt are a group of forwards who bring a ton of speed to the team.
“If we lose the ball, that’s our goal in the first quarter of the season is to get the ball back.”
“Within seven seconds,” Nielsen said, “after the first quarter of the season, we want to get back to within four seconds, so we’re going to be aggressive and put pressure on them.”
Their biggest hope this season is to be in a position to have home-field advantage come playoff time. With the change from one conference to two, teams will have a different schedule this year and will be playing new teams they are unfamiliar with.
“Our hope and my expectation is to put the team in position to have a playoff game at home,” Nielsen said, “That’s when it starts to become somewhat real. I would love to win our division, conference-wise.”
For Nielsen and his staff, the focus is on creating an environment where the team is competitive and the players have positive experiences in sports throughout their lives and have fond memories when they look back on their time with the team.
“My mission is to basically provide an environment where players can compete.
“We have to make sure we’re meeting and exceeding their athletic expectations,” Nielsen said, “but we also have to create an experience that when they come to their 25th reunion, they’re going to remember it and smile. They have to be happy with the experience.”
The coaching staff and team are putting all their effort into tackling the new schedule and getting ready to go right away in what they hope will be a solid season.
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