LOVELAND - Tuesday night the Fairmont Firebirds Men's Soccer team traveled to Loveland High School to take on the Tigers. The Birds nearly found their opener five minutes in, but Bien Niyonkuru could not get his shot on target following a through ball from Mordecai Kesner. The Birds continued to attack as the minutes ticked by and the next clear chance fell again to Bien, but his shot hit the top of the net. Torin Brock played Freddy Irakoze through in the fourteenth minute, but the Tigers’ keeper parried the shot over the crossbar. Will Herman continued the Birds’ pursuit of an opener in the twentieth minute, but again the shot was saved at the far post by the keeper, and he produced another save two minutes later following a strike from Irakoze. Fairmont’s stout defense allowed the hosts zero shots, and the
teams retired to halftime knotted nil-nil.

Through the first few minutes of the second half, the Tigers pinned Fairmont in their defensive third, but the hosts could not find any shot at goal. In the fifty-eighth minute, Gavin Weaver burst into
the box and looked a chance at goal but could not find pace behind his shot. Fairmont had its chances in the second half and looked like it would make a breakthrough in the dying minutes when a Tigers player made a basket catch from a low cross in the box, but neither the referee nor the linesman called a handball on the play. Two minutes later, a Tigers defender outstretched his elbow in the box to block a shot but again was not whistled for a handball. The game ended in a scoreless tie, with the Birds closing their regular season schedule with a record of 12-3-2, and finishing the regular season ranked #10 in the state.

The Birds open the post-season on Tuesday, October 21st with a trip to Ralph Wade field where they will take on the eighth-ranked Springboro Panthers with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. Go Birds!