Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm midfielder Megan Hames kicks the ball away from St. Peter’s Paige Winkelmann during a Big South Conference girls soccer game on Tuesday at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — There’s a lot more to soccer than kicking the ball into the net.

For example, communication.

The St. Peter Saints’ chatter on Tuesday night at New Ulm High School led to crisp passing and a strong attack as they held off the New Ulm Eagles 2-1 in a Big South Conference girls soccer game.

That communication led the Saints to dominate time of control as they got off 14 shots on goal to New Ulm’s three. All of those shots on goal for New Ulm came in the second half.

“[St. Peter’s] communication was tops tonight because every one of them out there was talking and giving direction and not giving each other static about doing something wrong or whatever,” New Ulm head coach Jonathan Johnson said. “Their passes were spot on, they were chipping passes to somebody 30 yards away and it was landing right at their feet. And all that, that just comes from practice. They’re passing, they’re receiving, they’re doing overlaps, and general ballhandling was just phenomenal.”

Eagles goalie Ellie Dake and the New Ulm defense kept it scoreless at the break despite being outshot 8-0 in shots on goal. Dake ended the night with 11 saves and was subbed out with less than 13 minutes to play for Ariana Dreyer, who recently returned from an injury and also saw time in last Thursday’s home game with Mankato West.

Dreyer made one save Tuesday.

St. Peter broke through in the 46th minute after a shot by Paige Winkelmann went up and over the head of Dake to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.

A corner kick was later knocked in by Keira Friedrich in the 49th minute to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

New Ulm’s attack intensified down 2-0, but there still wasn’t much to show for it. Anna Kramer had a shot at the net in the 52nd minute, but she had a bit too much on it as it sailed over the crossbar.

In the 59th minute, Kaelyn Eikanger had a breakaway to the net stopped short after St. Peter goalie Baylee Nygard scooped up the ball before a shot could be registered and booted it down the pitch.

Eikanger didn’t let her next breakaway fall by the wayside, however, as she buried a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to help the Eagles avoid being shut out again by the Saints.

St. Peter shut out New Ulm 2-0 on Aug. 26 in the Eagles’ second game of the year.

Johnson said his team got away from playing the way they have been lately and it hurt them Tuesday.

“I think they were in their own heads, they weren’t playing the way they have the last two games,” Johnson said. “We used only one side of the field, we weren’t spreading out. Whenever we spread out, we can make things happen, but all of the sudden it’s back to the same old thing where they’re all bunched up on one side. And it’s unfortunate that we’ve got to wait until somebody gets good and ticked off to go and score a goal.”

While St. Peter controlled the game, New Ulm’s defense did a solid job keeping things close.

“The defense has been playing really well this year,” Johnson said. “That second goal they got off that corner kick was just a cluster right in front of the net and somebody didn’t get their foot on it, obviously, except for the wrong people. But the defense has really been playing hard. All four of them are very mobile and we have a couple on the bench that are really fast, too. So I’m not worried about depth as far as defense goes.”

Tuesday was also Kicking Out Cancer Night. The Eagles girls soccer team sold t-shirts and raised $500 for B the Light, started in 2016 by Amber Melby.

New Ulm (3-6-2) hosts Mankato East at 7 p.m. on Thursday.