FAIRMONT — Defense, defense and more defense.

Striker Christian Edwards produced the only goal of the Big South Conference soccer clash to power the New Ulm Eagles to a 1-0 victory over the Fairmont Area Cardinals on Tuesday night at Jeffery Kot Soccer Complex in Fairmont.

“It feels good to finally get that first win this season,” said New Ulm head coach Dave Dake. “We graduated 12 seniors a year ago, so we’re definitely a young team, and this (the victory) should help build our confidence.”

Edwards, a nimble-footed junior forward, nearly reached the scoreboard 18 minutes into the 40-minute first half, but was denied when Fairmont Area netkeeper Bryant Armitage made a stretched-out diving save on Edwards’ left-to-right blast near the post.

Edwards would not be denied, however, as New Ulm’s shots-on-goal leader worked into a seam to filter a liner through traffic and into the twine at the 11:39 juncture.

“I saw Dom (Dominic Olson) work along the left side before centering the ball to the middle. I stepped into the gap, made the defenders jump on my fake kick, stepped back and knocked it into the left corner,” said Edwards.

Fairmont Area defender Carson Pomerenke later delivered a key sliding knock-away gem to halt New Ulm’s potential breakaway opportunity with 6:30 remaining in the first half. Reed Selvey rushed the right wing only to have Pomerenke sweep the angle and push the ball out-of-bounds.

Trailing 1-0, the Fairmont Area trio of Cole Christopher, Matthew Kotewa and Joshua Bergt unleashed hard shots that sailed over the cage, wide right or wide left, respectively, en route to zero official shots on goal during the final 40 minutes.

“It’s the same old story unfortunately,” said Fairmont Area head coach Brady Meyer. “I thought we played good defense, but we just couldn’t get enough good looks on goal to score — again.”

Christopher just got under his 25-yard launch from beyond the point at the 23-minute mark before Kotewa weaved through traffic in the box to just skid a left-to-right liner outside the right pipe only a minute later.

“Like other sports, it’s a game of inches,” said Cardinals’ assistant coach Trason Arens.

Bergt, who matched teammate Isaiah Lebbi with two goals each during Fairmont Area’s 4-4 tie with New Ulm last Friday night, also just missed by less than a foot on another crossing shot with 15 minutes remaining in regulation.

New Ulm goalkeeper Aaron Dewanz made two saves to net the shutout, while Armitage tallied a game-best five stops for Fairmont Area.

Fairmont Area (0-4-2) plays host to Marshall at 7 p.m. Friday night, while New Ulm (1-3-2) travels to Mankato Loyola on Friday for a 5 p.m. kickoff.

New Ulm 1-0–1

Fairmont 0-0–0

Scoring Plays

1st Half

NU — Christian Edwards (Dominic Olson), 11:39.

2nd Half

No scoring.

Shots on goal: New Ulm 3-3–6; Fairmont Area 2-0–2. Corners: New Ulm 2; Fairmont Area 1.

Saves: Bryant Armitage (FA) 5; Aaron Dewanz (NU) 2.

•

New Ulm posted a 6-0 triumph over Fairmont Area during junior varsity boys action Tuesday night at Kot Soccer Complex.

•

Girls Soccer

Fairmont Area 4, New Ulm 0 — Forward Rayah Quiring produced a game-best three points, while goalkeeper Cadence Becker recorded a shutout to power the Cardinals to a 4-0 Big South Conference victory over the Eagles on Tuesday night in New Ulm.

Fairmont Area, which rolled to a 9-1 victory over New Ulm last Friday night in Fairmont, swept the regular-season home-and-away series.

Quiring generated the Cardinals’ initial goal by converting an assist from defender Bailey Martinson into a goal and 1-0 margin at the 32:28 juncture of the opening half.

Maddie Maakestad doubled Fairmont Area’s lead by taking a pass from Alexis Rojo and finding the twine with 6:12 remaining before intermission.

Quiring netted her second goal of the contest by cashing in defender Carissa Saxton’s assist for a 3-0 advantage with 32:05 remaining in the second half.

Quiring then traded roles by distributing an assist to Selma Bleess, who kicked home a goal at the 14:33 mark for the final 4-0 score.

Becker recorded four saves, including snuffing a New Ulm penalty kick via a diving leap to her left for the stop with 4:21 to go in regulation.

Fairmont Area (3-2-1) travels to Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall for a 6:45 p.m. game against the Tigers.

•

New Ulm edged Fairmont Area, 1-0, during junior varsity action Tuesday night in New Ulm.

Netkeeper Kalie Hanna made three saves for the Cardinals.