By Jeremy Behnke

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM – The New Ulm boy’s soccer team had to adjust to a brand new surface on the fly.

Considering the team doesn’t play too many games on artificial turf, it looked pretty much at home in a 2-1 Big South Conference loss to Marshall on Monday.

The Eagles and Tigers were tied for all but three minutes of the second half. Then, Marshall’s Jackson Luther booted one past New Ulm goalkeeper Matthew Janke for the eventual game-winning goal.

Wyatt Huard scored the first-ever goal at the new field for the Eagles. He scored with 24:13 left in the first half unassisted to tie the game at 1-1.

“It was awesome; first day on this new field, we came out with a lot of energy,” Huard said.

The speed of play was noticeably different, but the Eagles didn’t seem like it bothered them much. They were on the field before game time trying to get used to the field and how the ball travels differently.

“It’s different, the ball moves at a lot faster rate,” Huard said. “We came out here two hours before the game and we kicked around and just got used to it.”

Marshall beat New Ulm 4-2 the last time the teams played and it looked like it could be another high-scoring game for Marshall early on. New Ulm found itself down 1-0 less than four minutes into the game when Nicolas Guevara found the back of the net.

While New Ulm did have a few scoring chances in the first half, it at times looked like it had difficulty getting its footing down on some breakaways. But Huard scored the equalizer about 10 minutes after Marshall’s goal.

Both teams had several chances in the second half. Huard got free with about seven minutes left but wasn’t able to get a good angle on the shot. Less than four minutes later, Marshall scored the go-ahead goal.

“I think we played great, first half went well and second half we put our heads down I guess,” Huard said.

New Ulm hosts Mankato Loyola at 5 p.m. Thursday.