Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Daniel Brownfield goes for a header over at Tri-City United defender during a Big South Conference boys soccer game at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — New Ulm held Angel Ruiz Gomez and Tri-City United to a single goal as the Eagles won 3-1 in a Big South Conference boys soccer match on Thursday.

Ruiz Gomez was the top goal maker in the state coming into the match, collecting 11 scores in six contests. New Ulm held him scoreless in the game.

“We had to man mark him,” New Ulm head coach Timothy Plocher said. “Teagan Kral had to man mark him, and he did an excellent job. Going forward, they’re going to be a tough opponent still. They’re probably going to read us now that they know what we got. They didn’t know what we got. I looked ahead. It will be interesting when we play at their place later this season.”

New Ulm has a prolific goal-scorer of its own in Jackson Ocampo, and he came through for the Eagles in a big way in the game, scoring a goal and adding two assists.

“I think our game plan coming in was just defending their best player,” Ocampo said. “Teagan Kral did a really good job of defending. We came out with a lot of energy off the start, I got my goal at the beginning. We only ended 1-0 at the half, but we came out strong in the second, got two in the first 10 minutes. That’s what helped us secure the win.”

Junior Amoah and Logan Goblirsch also had a goal each in the game, with Gorblirsch adding an assist. Jens Quist had seven saves and New Ulm had 13 shots on goal.

Plocher said the team knew this would be a tough opponent coming in, but that the team’s aggression and attention to detail led to success.

“Tri-City, they tied Worthington and we’ve never beat Worthington,” Plocher said. “I said [to the team], ‘We have to come out with aggression and nice, crisp passes. We have to get it to the corners and get our crosses in.’ We had a lot of opportunities for headers. But some amazing, amazing passing with Jackson, Junior, Josh [Shaneman], getting them goals and assists. It was honestly great from everyone.”

That aggression did lead to a few penalties and stingers for players on both sides, as a few left the game with injury, but it also lead to a lot of balls going New Ulm’s way as they held the majority of the possession on the game.

Ocampo added that the team’s energy at the start really helped them push to the end.

“I think we really outworked them today,” he said. “We really wanted to win, because with the new divisions we knew this would be a big game for us and it would put us ahead of the section.”

New Ulm’s first goal game in the 11th minute with Ocampo receiving a pass from Goblirsch and taking the ball right to the net for a score. After the halftime break, New Ulm came out quickly with another goal in the 41st minute, with Ocampo showing of his dribble before assisting Gorblirsch for a 2-0 lead. Just 17 seconds later, Ocampo got another assist off to Amoah to give New Ulm a 3-0 lead.

TCU got on the board with a goal in the 48th minute with a goal by Alex Mendez, who capitalized on an out-of-position Quist for the score. New Ulm had a few more opportunities to score late in the game, but just missed on several of them. However, it did not cost them the win, as TCU was unable to put many shots on goal after its score.

New Ulm (4-1) plays at Hutchinson/Glencoe-Silver Lake on Saturday at 3 p.m.