Breaking News
Local Sports

New Ulm finds footing in second half against Waseca

By Ari Selvey 4 min read

NEW ULM -- In a sloppy and slippery game that matched the weather, New Ulm found itself with a 3-2 lead over Waseca with 15 minutes to play in the second half of a Big South Conference boys soccer game Thursday.

From that point on, the Eagles outscored the Bluejays 5-1 as the flood of goals far outpaced the mild drizzle coming down throughout the game to win 8-3.

"We've just go to slow down" New Ulm's Oliver Schuch said. "I think we get ahead of ourselves sometimes, we kind of rest in place. But I think we're a really good team when we slow down and work together. We're a good team -- we have a lot of good individuals -- but when we all work together, we work really well."

Schuch, a sophomore scored not only his first goal of the season, but also of his varsity career during the game to put the Eagles up 2-1 in the first.

"I've been on [varsity] for freshman year and sophomore year and I hadn't scored yet," Schuch said. "It just felt great. I love this team so much. I feel like we can go so far. This team has encouraged me to get this first goal, it just meant so much."

Then, in the second half, Schuch scored his second goal to put New Ulm up 5-2 and help put the game away for the Eagles.

"I really like helping out my team," Schuch said. "It means so much and I want to do everything I can. It kind of sucks when I can't score for them, but I'm glad I could put some in the net."

Along with Schuch's two goals, Logan Goblirsch assisted all but three of New Ulm's goals, collecting five assists in the game. Levi Johnson had a hat trick with an assist, while Methodious Amoah had a goal and an assist. Josh Gordon added a goal for New Ulm.

Johnson scored first for the Eagles less than two minutes into the game, taking a through ball from Goblirsch and putting it in the net for a 1-0 lead. Waseca responded in the 12th minute, with a free kick from Tovin Grannis from distance being carried by the wind and slipping through the goal to tie it a 1. Schuch scored his goal less than a minute later, cleaning up a ricochet to put New Ulm up by one once again. A header from Fischer off of a corner kick from Goblirsch put the lead at 3-1 before halftime.

Waseca scored its second goal 12 minutes into the second half to cut the lead to 3-2, where the score stood for 14 minutes.

"We changed our formation up a little bit and we tried some new things," New Ulm head coach Tim Plocher said. "It's nice to have something in your back pocket if things don't go your way. It seemed to work out."

With 14 minutes to play, Amoah collected another corner kick from Goblirsch for another goal as the Eagles went up 4-2. Less than a minute later again, Schuch scored his second goal on an assist from Goblirsch to make it a 5-2 game. Waseca got another goal on a bouncing shot that found its way in the goal through the rain, but from that point on, it was all Eagles. Goblirsch assisted Johnson for a goal with 2 minutes to play, Johnson earned a hat trick on another assist from Goblirsch in the 79th minute, and Gordon scored unassisted with under a minute to play to wrap up the 8-3 win.

Kingston Haime had five saves in net for New Ulm.

"Defensively, everyone came together," Plocher said. "It was Kingston's first time in the net, maybe some first-time jitters, it happens the field is wet … Things got a little bit easier."

New Ulm (9-3, 3-1) plays at Orono on Saturday.

Starting at /week.