File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm goalie Ellie Dake looks down the pitch during a home nonconference soccer game against Hutchinson this past Monday at New Ulm High School.

By Travis Rosenau

and Jake Olson

sports@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — In the nearly two decades Matt Nielsen and Jonathan Johnson have coached varsity girls soccer at their respective schools, both coaches have seen changes in coaches, conferences and competition.

One recent change the veteran coaches have seen comes in the form of this Thursday’s Big South Conference championship game when Johnson and the New Ulm Eagles welcome Nielsen and the Fairmont Cardinals to the New Ulm High School turf for the second time this season.

The second-ever Big South Conference girls soccer championship game will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at New Ulm High School.

This will be the second Big South title game after the Big South was split into two divisions last year following the addition of Tri-City United to make it an eight-team conference.

While the Big South title game is still a relatively new concept, Nielsen isn’t a stranger to the game. The Cardinals hosted the first-ever Big South championship game last season against St. Peter, falling 3-1.

The Eagles defeated Fairmont 3-0 in New Ulm on Aug. 26 in both team’s second game of the season. A lot has happened since then, however, and both teams know that this time around will be more competitive with more on the line.

Johnson, in his 17th season as head coach at New Ulm, said the games with Fairmont typically are “feisty” games and he expects a battle. He also wants more from his team’s offense following a 3-0 win Tuesday over Hutchinson that saw the Eagles score all of their goals in the second half.

“[Our girls] are ready to take them on,” Johnson said. “We played them earlier in the season and beat them [3-0] and they’re ready to take them on again, so we just have to do better than we did [Tuesday]. We still have that ability, it was just one of those deals. I’m looking forward to Thursday and so are the girls. We want to take it to the Cardinals.”

Nielsen, in season No. 19 as head coach of the Cardinals, had similar thoughts on his upcoming opponent.

During the August matchup between the two conference foes, he noticed an aggressiveness that the Eagles play on the offensive end, particularly in their speed to cause all sorts of chaos in front of the net.

“The team I saw in August was fiercely determined and competitive,” Nielsen said. “They started the game with some injuries to key players. They didn’t blink, they didn’t flinch. I think that mindset in any endeavor carries you a long way, if adversity is just a thing to you.”

Since that defeat, Nielsen and his squad have taken a strong surge heading into the later part of the season. Fairmont won or tied in its next eight games after their face off with the Eagles, earning wins over Tri-City United and Mankato Loyola, respectively.

The change in play is because of a multitude of reasons from all aspects of the game.

Offensively, the Big South, Gold Division-winning Cardinals (9-5-2) have made it an effort to be more persistent with their shots on goal, determined to stay aggressive by keeping opposing goalkeepers on their heels the whole game. Since Aug. 28, Fairmont has scored nearly four goals per game after getting shut out by their first two opponents.

“The passing opens it [the offense] up, but as much as anything else, they got away from everything being perfect,” Nielsen said. “It’s not always perfect. You only have a small window to get a shot off. Let’s just get shots and the goals will come after.”

On the opposite side of the field, Nielsen’s defensive unit has tightened over the past couple of weeks, flexing a much improved product led by goalkeeper Addison Folkerts in front of the net. The Cardinals have held opponents to nearly one goal per game since the New Ulm contest while pitching five shutouts.

The Eagles, now 9-3-2 overall and winners of the Big South, Black Division, have been led by junior Jesalyn Skoglund’s 20 goals on the season and a mix of other young goal scorers like Allie Nelson, Grace Barie and Marlena Kral. But regardless of who fuels the New Ulm attack, Johnson believes the strength lies in his team’s bond.

“The cohesiveness, the camaraderie amongst the girls,” Johnson said. “They’re all friends, they do a lot of things together. They play summer soccer, most of them play together, other activities, things in school, they’re just together, which is huge. It’s a good feeling for me a coach to see these girls having fun, being nice to each other. There’s no bickering ever, it’s a good feeling and it’s a good bunch of kids.”

Eagles senior goalie Ellie Dake has been solid in net also this season, recording eight shutouts.

Overall for Fairmont, Nielsen’s team has simply matured as the season has progressed. A young team highlighted by three seniors – Grace Kotewa, Nola Thedens, and Audrina Suckow – Fairmont has had to lean on a handful of underclassmen to fill important roles on the field.

“I told them it’s going to be a process to where we want to go and we still have a boatload of improvement,” Nielsen said.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are on a three-game win streak. Johnson said the key to making it four wins in a row and defeating Fairmont again Thursday will come down to not being afraid to shoot the ball.

“The biggest thing will be when getting it in close to the 18, we need to pull the trigger and not wait for that nice, wide-open net to sink one in there,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to start taking more chances. Having our shots on goal and not over to the sides or whatever and we work on that a lot when we do get a chance to practice. So if we can pull the trigger quicker, I think we’re going to have a really good chance. It’s in our favor already with home field advantage.”